Indian Politician's Speech Disrupted By Protesters

[Guest DKI]

Indian Politician's Speech Disrupted by Protesters

Friday, October 27, 2006

San Leandro resident Prabhsharandeep Singh stands alongside Indian politician Jaswant Singh, who gave a speech entitled “India and China: The Asian Two” at the International House as part of a globalization speech.

Prabhsharandeep Singh was one of more than 60 dissenters who stormed into the hall, where over 100 audience members came to hear Jaswant Singh address the globalization of China and India.

The protesters halted the event for more than 30 minutes with shouts of "You cannot apologize for genocide!"

Jaswant Singh served as Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister for the Baratiya Janata Party in India from 1998 to 2004. Protesters were demonstrating against 2002 violence against Muslims in Gujarat.

The main group of protesters consisted of community members as well as UC Berkeley students, who were organized by junior Randeep Singh, a philosophy major.

"We are expressing our disgust at someone who has advocated and who has actively been a proponent of minority persecution," Randeep Singh said.

Police officers were called in by the I-House to control the event but no arrests were made.

Audience members, who had come to hear Jaswant Singh speak became aggravated with the demonstrators.

"The protesters could have negotiated it better and done it more democratically," said Mayuri Panditrao, a UC Berkeley graduate student. “Giving honor to a person who has served the country for seven terms makes sense.”

Jaswant Singh said he was still glad to speak at UC Berkeley despite the demonstration.

“Despite the interruption and excitements, there was flavor added to the evening,” he said.

—Jane Shin

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

:TH:

Don't these people know that this isn't bharat? In america people actually think freely and protest freely. Globalization is a good thing and abad thing for India. the good thing is that it will help India economically. the bad thing is that it is going to bring all the skeletons in india's closets to the world stage. This is bad for the gov't but great for persecuted minorities.

genocide, rape murder, India will finally be slowly exposed for the world to see.

great job by california sikhs!

[Harmeet Singh]

Prabhsharandeep Singh is a great activist. I think whenver an indian politician comes to the West, there is no better way to expose them to the world than to protest at their evil faces.

[Guest PunjabSingh]

Prabhsharandeep Singh is a great activist. I think whenver an indian politician comes to the West, there is no better way to expose them to the world than to protest at their evil faces.

'Prabhsharandeep Singh' ..Is it the same Singh who confronted vedanti during his USA visit ?

[Harmeet Singh]

Prabhsharandeep Singh' ..Is it the same Singh who confronted vedanti during his USA visit ?

yes

[Guest DKI]

Jaswant Singh interrupted at US varsity

Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC

November 02, 2006 09:42 IST

Last Updated: November 02, 2006 09:49 IST

Former External Affairs Minister in the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government Jaswant Singh told rediff.com that the heckling that preceded his speech at the University of California at Berkeley was not so much about the 2002 Gujarat riots but about support for Khalistan.

Singh said, "It was not so much about Gujarat. In fact, it had nothing to do with Gujarat. It was a handful of... they were really shouting slogans for Khalistan."

"They wanted a Khalistan, but I don't know who was responsible for it," he added.

Singh, who was in Washington to appear at a Johns Hopkins University event with Strobe Talbott, the ex-Deputy Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration, who was his former counterpart in the US-India strategic dialogue that followed after India's Pokhran nuclear tests in May 1998, said he had no idea why this issue had been brought up as a form of protest before a speech he was slated to deliver on the rise of India and China as Asian powers.

"I don't know why," he said he was being heckled, "I am not pro-Khalistan. But they (the protestors) seemed to have all kinds of other issues -- everything."

More than 50 protestors, including what was reported as local Sikhs and Muslims as well as several Berkeley students, had stormed the hall just as Singh was preparing to deliver his speech, and surrounded him, shouting, "You cannot apologise for genocide,' obviously referring to the Gujarat riots that took place on the watch of the Vajpayee administration of which he was a part.

They delayed the event for over half an hour, distributing leaflets among the audience of about 100 people, ignoring the efforts of the organisers who implored them to leave.

When one member of the audience, incensed over the interruption shouted, "This is a democracy, we have an invited guest so let him speak," a dissenter had screamed right back that giving Singh a platform to speak was like giving the floor 'to a Nazi criminal'.

Police was called, but had not immediately intervened, and Randeep Singh, a philosophy major at Berkeley, who led the protest was allowed to speak for a few minutes to denounce the human rights violations of minorities in India, on the condition that after he said his piece, Singh would be permitted to deliver his lecture without any interruptions.

Singh, then in his opening said, "I am honoured to be here despite the excitement of the beginning," and after his speech even though he had insisted on taking some questions from the audience, was advised by security officials that it was better he leave.

He had initially resisted, saying, "This is an educational institution, (and) I have never requested special security arrangements and I certainly will not now," but ultimately relented and had been escorted by about 10 police officers through a rear exit, while the demonstrators waited outside the main entrance of International House on the university campus to heckle him further.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/nov/02jaswant.htm

[Pakandi baba]

I pray for the well being of such Gursikhs who do so much to highlight the Sikh causes - May Waheguru Bless with chardikala and encoaurge more of us to the same!