Dasvand
Ottawa (February 17, 2025 ) – The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) calls on the Ontario Liberal Party to immediately withdraw Viresh Bansal as their candidate for Oshawa after the emergence of deeply offensive and hateful social media comments.
A post on X from Bansal stated, “You can thank India for cleaning trash people. Ask your gay friend @JustinTrudeau to do the same.”
The post was made in response to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s statement on the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh leader who was killed in a plot that has links to agents of the Government of India.
In another post in response to a post by Conservative Party Deputy Leader Tim Uppal expressing concern over the Indian government’s crackdown against Sikh activists in Punjab in March 2023, Bansal posted “It's Indian internal matter. You better take care of your own. Dekhi kitten tere naal vi kutt khanni na hoje.” Meaning ‘watch out or you might get roughed up as well.’’.
WSO President Danish Singh said today,
“Bansal’s post is a disgusting endorsement of an extrajudicial killing by India and a homophobic attack on Canada’s Prime Minister. The fact that the Ontario Liberal campaign has not immediately and unequivocally condemned these remarks is unacceptable. There is no place in Canadian politics for candidates who celebrate state-sponsored killings and use hateful, homophobic rhetoric. Bansal has shown a pattern of anti-Sikh hate targeting Sikh politicians. Bansal’s words are not just offensive—they are dangerous and legitimize violence against minorities in Canada.
The WSO calls on Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie to immediately withdraw Viresh Bansal’s candidacy and send a clear message that hateful rhetoric and endorsement of violence have no place in their party or in Ontario politics. Anything less is a failure of leadership.”
The WSO is a non-profit national organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of Canadian Sikhs as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights of all individuals.