Ahead of the election polls in Australia, the Liberal Party of Australia seems to have decided to throw its weight behind the controversial community leader Amar Singh as one of its key faces in the marginal Sydney seat of Parramatta.
Singh, who had allegedly fuelled tensions between Sikhs and Hindus in Australia over the farmers’ protests last year and had even defended the ‘rights’ of secessionists demanding a separate Khalistan, is reportedly going to canvass for the Liberal Party of Australia for the polls that are slated to take place on 21 May 2022.
Maria Kovacic, the Liberal party candidate for Parramatta, in a recent event, received support from the contentious leader Amar Singh. The event was also attended by Liberal Party MP and immigration minister of Australia Mr Alex Hawke.
However, the association between the Liberal Party and Singh is not borne out of a convergence of ideology. Rather, it stems from a symbiotic transactional relationship between the two entities. According to the sources, Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic has purportedly promised a massive donation to Turbans 4 Australia, a putative charitable organisation which is founded by Singh to further his anti-Hindu activities.
Turbans 4 Australia is also a part of a Hinduphobic NGO group called the Australian Alliance Against Hate and Violence (AAAHAV), which had in the past maligned Hindus and stoked fear psychosis among Australians by claiming that Australia is “least prepared” to counter the allegedly “rising threat of Hindu far-right extremism.” Calling upon politicians, and federal and state governments to “urgently recognise the threat of far-right Hindu extremism”, and urged “to take concrete steps to address this threat.”
Pertinently, the Parramatta federal electorate is among the federal constituencies with the highest Hindu population in Australia. The Liberal Party is hoping that their partnership with Singh might turn the fortune in their favour and sway Hindu votes towards them.
However, some Hindu voters of Parramatta were not impressed with the Liberal Party’s dalliance with Singh. “This man (Amar Singh) spoke against Hindus during the Harris Park violence between Khalistanis and patriotic Hindu Indians,” one voter said.
As per sources, Singh was one of the staunch supporters of the Khalistani elements who clashed with patriotic Hindu Indians at Harris Park. In the aftermath of the violence, Singh was seen defending the Khalistani hoodlums, stating that demanding Khalistan is a “democratic right” and that Sikhs have a right to demand Khalistan.
It is also worth noting that while Singh has been currently consorting with the Liberal leaders, he was seen to be closely associated with Green leaders such as Senator David Shoebridge and Mehreen Faruqi in the past.
Shoebridge had earlier called VHP and RSS ‘neo Nazis’, and had castigated India for enacting the CAA bill and revoking article 370. His fellow parliamentarians asked him to refuse for making unsolicited remarks, but he stoutly refused to do so.
There is also a mystery surrounding why Singh is no longer attending Sydney’s Glenwood Gurudwara, a place where he had frequented regularly in the past until an ugly brawl broke out between Khalistani supporters and Hindus who opposed the former for harbouring secessionist ideology and advocating for the vivisection of India.
