SAD demands apology for racial heckling of Canada's Sikh defence minister

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded that the Conservative Party MP who had made a 'racial comment' against Canada's first Sikh Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, must apologise immediately.

Targetting Canada's opposition Member of Parliament Jason Kenney, SAD Delhi unit president Manjit Singh GK said that it was completely inappropriate for Kenney to shout and say we need an "English-to-English" translation to understand Sikh Defence Minister in Parliament.

"The leader of opposition, Jason Kenney, has an English-to-English translation of Harjit Sajjan who is the defence minister of Canada, I think it is a racial comment. And I think he should feel sorry about this as already across the globe, Indians are facing many racial abuses and this will again give rise to such kind of atrocities towards Indians," said Manjit Singh GK told ANI here.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and senior lawyer Majeed Memon said that if his (Harjit Sajjan) English knowledge is poor and he is finding it difficult to function in the parliament, and in that case, if someone is telling him to improve his English, it must not be taken as an offence.

He further said that if a Sikh is critisised for his caste, for his turban or for his conduct, individual person, then it is a very serious matter.

"I understand that this gentleman was critised for his knowledge of English. But if it is supposed to be a comment about his religion or about his caste, culture, then it is a very serious matter. And the High Commission of India must not spare such offenders," Memon added.

Sajjan was heckled in Canadian Parliament with an opposition member shouting that MP needed an "English-to-English" translation as he spoke, an act dubbed as "racist".

Kenney, a former defence minister himself, said MPs needed an "English to English" translation of Sajjan's responses.