David Shoebridge, Senator in New South Wales, Australia, sparked a controversy recently after he called the RSS and VHP ‘neo Nazis’. The senator made the comments during a meeting with State Senator Geoff Lee, the Acting Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors and Veterans on the 5th of March.
“How did Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), right-wing Hindu organisation that is considered a military extremist religious organisation by the CIA, find themselves in New South Wales public schools?” Shoebridge asked. “Are these neo-Nazi groups on the government’s radar, and if so, what is going to be done about it,” he added.
David Shoebridge stated further, “The most recent attack that I’ve heard of, which was again at Harris Park and again as recently as Sunday night, was where four young men from the Sikh community were celebrating. In fact, they got a new car, and then it was smashed. They were stopped on the street, and it was smashed. In the course of the assault, I understand, that the assailants identified the reason they were smashing was because of the occupants being from the Sikh community. And it came from a far-right extremist political position.”
“I have not seen a single report of a violent act coming from any part of the political spectrum from the Indian community other than the extremist, right-wing Hindu nationalist part of the community,” he stated.
David Shoebridge, here, appears to be unaware of the recent history of violence at Harris Park. In August 2020, there was a massive brawl between Haryanvis and Khalistanis which was the consequence of an escalation of a TikTok battle.
One thing led to another and soon, there were two groups at Harris Park going hammer and tongs at each other. The main culprit behind that brawl was believed to be one Khalistani called Jassi and community leaders from both sides stepped in to deescalate the matter.
The circumstances of the current instance of violence are unclear and the assailants are reportedly yet to be identified. However, police believe that it is linked to the farmer protests in India. Given the fact that two Sikh youths were reportedly arrested the last time around, the obvious thing to do here is to wait till an investigation in the matter is completed. But David Shoebridge, here, is clearly too impatient for that.
Hindu organisations in Australia have now issued a statement condemning the NSW Senator’s remarks. The Hindu Council of Australia said, “The recent unprovoked Hinduphobic attacks are based on phantom charges against the Australian Hindu community like caste-based discrimination and the dowry system as only a Hindu practice.”
“These phantom imputations have encouraged direct attacks, using abusive language, on various Hindus across Australia on social media, threat letters to community members by an international terrorist organisation causing harassment to the community,” it said.
Condemning Shoebridge’s “baseless allegations” about Hindu extremism in Australia, the Hindu Council of Australia demanded that evidence be produced before them so that as a community, Hindus can take effective measures against them. The statement also demanded the government and relevant agencies to put an end to Hinduphobia and hate attacks.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shoebridge had attended a demonstration in support of farmer protests in India and a video of the same was uploaded on the YouTube channel of Pieter Friedrich, a person that had surfaced in the Greta toolkit which exposed a global campaign against India.
Pieter Friedrich also happens to be an associate of a Khalistani ISI operative.
