MELBOURNE: A Sikh female candidate of the federal election in Australia was made target of a racist propaganda when residents of her constituency in the north of Melbourne received flyers calling Sikhism "violent, racist, and homophobic".
Alexandra Kaur Bhathal, a Greens party candidate for the House of Representatives from the seat of Batman, Victoria, is a second-generation Australian whose father migrated to the country in 1952. The flyers show a picture of her speaking at a Sikh congregation in Melbourne commemorating the 'Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day' on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots anniversary last year. It also claims she supports 'Khalistan terrorist movement' to create a "racist" nation in Punjab. The flyer says "male Sikhs carry daggers, using for beheading and genital mutilation". It called Bathal a "militant Sikh extremist who falsely claims Indians did 'genocide' against Sikhs, and infiltrated the Greens to promote her hidden race agenda and the militant Sikh separatists against India."
"This is an attempt to malign me politically," said Bhathal. "I am sickened and disturbed at this vicious and defamatory attack on Sikhs and Sikhism. I am a proud Sikh and this unfortunate hatred won't sway me from my political commitment. There should be no place for such racism and hatred in any country of the world." She said she would get a complaint registered with the Australian Electoral Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission.
