Independent MP Ramesh Sangha has accused his former Liberal colleagues of conspiring to support Khalistani extremism.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sangha accused unspecified Sikh MPs of using their positions to benefit Khalistani extremists at the expense of national security.
“I’m a proud Sikh by birth. Like Sikhs in Canada, I’m not a Khalistani extremist or a sympathizer,” Sangha said.
“Security of Canada is paramount but they compromised it. Shame on their part to pander [to] extremists in Canada. History will not forgive them.”
Sangha said the unnamed MPs pressured the Trudeau government to have the category of “Khalistani extremism” removed from the Public Report on the Terrorist Threat in Canada.
Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree immediately objected to Sangha’s remarks and asked the speaker to have the statement removed from the records for damaging the reputation of Liberal Sikh MPs.
Speaker Anthony Rota did not make an immediate decision on Anandasangaree’s request.
Sangha was removed from the Liberal caucus in January for spreading “conspiracy theories” about other Liberal MPs. Chief Government Whip Mark Holland called Sangha’s claims “baseless and dangerous.”
In an interview with a Punjabi media outlet that month, Sangha claimed that outgoing Industry Minister Navdeep Bains had identified with the Khalistan movement and claimed Bains was not fit to be a minister.
Khalistanis are extremist members of the Sikh community that wish to see an ethnostate for Sikhs carved out of Indian territory.
In 1985, Khalistani extremists bombed Air India Flight 182. Of the 382 people killed, 268 were Canadian citizens.
