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India-born Canada MP says Kaali poster painful, ‘anti-Hindu, anti-India forces...’
India-born Canada MP Chandra Arya said anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada have joined forces resulting in Hinduphobic articles in media and attacks on Hindu temples.
India-born Canadian parliamentarian Chandra Arya said in the past few years, anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada have joined forces resulting in attacks on Hinduism -- as the Toronto-based Aga Khan Museum expressed regret for the Goddess Kaali controversy. The poster of a documentary by Toronto-based Indian filmmaker Leena Manimekalai depicted Goddess Kaali smoking in front of an LGBT flag. The poster drew flak in India with the Indian High Commission urging the Canadian authorities to withdraw the "disrespectful depiction".
Karnataka's Chandra Arya, who is a Liberal Party MP representing Nepean in the Canadian Parliament said the poster is painful. Accepting the apology from the Aga Khan Museum authorities, the Indo-Canadian MP said, "Past few years, traditional anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada have joined forces resulting in Hinduphobic articles in media & attacks on our Hindu temples."
The poster created a stir after Leena Manimekalai shared it on social media as part of a presentation of Toronto Metropolitan University. FIRs have been filed against the filmmaker in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on several charges including criminal conspiracy, offence in place of worship etc. Complaints were filed against Leena in two separate courts in Bihar,
The Aga Khan Museum said the Toronto Metropolitan University brought together works from students of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds as part of Canadian multiculturalism for the project 'Under the Tent' and Leena's movie was one of them. "The Museum deeply regrets that one of the 18 short videos from 'Under the Tent' and its accompanying social media post have inadvertently caused offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities," it added.
Amid the uproar, Leena said she would continue to use her voice fearlessly till she is alive. "I have nothing to lose. Till the time I live, I wish to live with a voice that speaks what I believe without fear. If the price for that is my life, it can be given," Manimekalai wrote in a Twitter post.
