Martin Singh, 42, who converted to Sikhism in 1991 and got baptized in 1993, is in the poll fray from Toronto’s neighboring city of Brampton, which has the second largest concentration of Indians, mostly Punjabis, in Canada.fast talking ‘gora’ or ‘white’ Sikh is the candidate from Brampton North for the opposition New Democratic Party, which is leading in opinion polls. Married to a Sikh girl from Amritsar, Singh is pitted against two Sikhs: the sitting MP Parm Gill of the ruling Conservative Party, and Ruby Sahota of the Liberal Party. We are here to win. I am confident that I will be elected. People are responding very well,” says the father of three, as he canvasses from door to door in Canada’s most ethnic city.
“There are 21,000 Punjabis in my riding (constituency), and I am connecting with each and every one. They have confidence in me. They know what I can do for them,” says Singh, who runs a pharmacy business that employs about 500 people.
Recent changes in immigration have impacted families, Singh says, adding that addressing this issue will be his top priority. “The Canadian immigration and visa system is broken. We want to fix it, as immigrant families want all their members to be united. I am a businessman, and I want to create jobs which have vanished.”
Because of his turban, this white Sikh made headlines in Canada when he ran for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 2012.Ask him why he converted to Sikhism, and he says: “Sikhism attracted me, because Guru Nanak emphasized the three pillars of ‘Naam japo, kirat karo, vand chhako’ (meditating, earning an honest living through hard work, sharing) and his vision to pass guruship to the most deserving, not his kin. So I embraced Sikhism in 1991. In 1993, I got baptized.”
He says his family was very supportive of his conversion to Sikhism. “My mother says that her son has done many interesting things in life, but this one (conversion) has lasted the longest.”
Singh says he got baptized in 1993, and thanks to a Sikh family in Calgary, he was introduced to a Sikh girl in Amritsar who became his wife.
“I first went to India in 1997 and met with the woman librarian of the Religious Studies Department at Guru Nanak Dev University. The librarian was related to the Sikh family in Calgary. She introduced me to her niece Amandeep Kaur who had just finished her Masters in Punjabi literature from Punjabi University Patiala. I liked her, and we got married in Amritsar. I came back, and she joined me here in 1998, as her visa took some time.’’Though he cannot speak much Punjabi, Singh has acquired enough knowledge to read Sikh scriptures in the Gurmukhi script. It is quite amusing to hear him use the word `paaji’ (which means elder brother in Punjabi) in his conversation more frequently than an average Punjabi.
Out of the eight Indo-Canadian MPs in the outgoing House of Commons of 308 members, six were Sikhs. In the upcoming elections, it is Sikh versus Sikh in over a dozen constituencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment