Brampton Hindu temple attack row: India says ‘hope Canadian Govt will take due action’

Days after the attack on the Brampton Hindu temple in Canada allegedly by pro-Khalistani supporters, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that India expects the Canadian government will take due action.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, November 7, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, as quoted by PTI, said, "You have seen the comments that we made. We condemn the attack on the temple in Brampton, and we have called upon the Canadian government to hold rule of law and to bring to justice the people who purported the violence. We hope that the Canadian government will take due action.”

On consular camps

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Indian Consulate in Toronto announced that it would cancel some of its scheduled consular camps after the Canadian security authorities failed to provide minimum security protection.

The announcement by the Indian Consulate was made on the social media platform X.

The post read, “In view of the security agencies conveying their inability to provide minimum security protection to the community camp organizers, the Consulate has decided to cancel some of the scheduled consular camps.”

On the issue of consular camp cancellations in Toronto, Randhir Jaiswal said, “You would have seen the message posted by our consulate in Toronto that they have had to cancel the consular camp that they were planning to organise over the weekend because they did not get adequate security or security assurance from the government. We have a large diaspora in Canada. Many of these people, especially around the month of November, December, they need several documentation for continuation of their pensions and several other activities here in India.”

He added, "So this consulate camp that we do is helpful to the community, to both people of Indian nationality and people who are of Indian origin but Canadian nationals today. I do understand that in other parts of Canada, Vancouver for example, the consular camps will be conducted. These consular camps are conducted at the request of the community organisations. So where the community organisation is comfortable, we will go ahead with these consular camps." 

The announcement by the Consulate to cancel some of its scheduled consular camps comes merely days after anti-India extremists disrupted a consular camp organised by the Indian Consulate outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton, near Toronto.

PM Narendra Modi condemns attack

Days after the attack on the Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton, near Toronto, PM Narendra Modi condemned the incident. "I strongly condemn the deliberate attack on a Hindu temple in Canada. Equally appalling are the cowardly attempts to intimidate our diplomats. Such acts of violence will never weaken India’s resolve. We expect the Canadian government to ensure justice and uphold the rule of law,” PM Modi posted on X.

Justin Trudeau's response

On Wednesday, speaking at the House of Commons, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau condemned those responsible for inciting such violence and emphasised that the Sikh and Hindu communities in Canada should not be blamed for these actions.

"The violence we have seen in South Asian communities across the country over the past few nights, let me be very clear. The individuals who are inciting violence and division and hatred in no way represent either the Sikh community or the Hindu community in Canada," Trudeau stated.

(With agency inputs)