Jagmeet Singh Wins Fans With Response to Racist Heckler in Canada

By Little India Desk | September 11, 2017

Canadian Sikh politician Jagmeet Singh’s calm and measured response to a belligerent woman has gone viral on social media. Singh, the New Democratic Party politician, was subjected to a racist rant by a woman during a campaign event in Brampton, Ontario last week. After the heckling, Jagmeet responded in a cool manner, which has received wide appreciation online.

Jagmeet Singh, With love and Courage

“We welcome you. We love you. We support you, we believe in your rights,” Singh said to the woman, CBC reported.

His supporters then continuously chanted “Love and Courage”, the slogan of the campaign, as the woman repeatedly shouted at Singh and made Islamophobic comments.

During the ‘JagMeet and Greet’ event, a white woman who identified herself as Jennifer aggressively invaded Singh’s space, as he was getting ready to address his supporters.

“We know you’re in bed with Sharia. We know you’re in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood,” said the woman loudly.

Sharia is a set of laws in Islam, and it has nothing to do with Jagmeet, as he is a Sikh believer. The 38-year-old politician always sports a long beard and wears a turban, and this might have misled the lady regarding his religious belief.

Even though the woman was aggressive in her gestures and words, Singh calmly responded to the crowd, saying, “We believe in love and courage… We don’t want to be intimidated by hate, we don’t want hatred to ruin a positive event.”

After four minutes of heckling, the woman finally stopped.

“You know growing up as a brown-skin, turbaned, bearded man that I’ve faced things like this before. There’s going to be other obstacles that we’re going to face and we’re going to face them with love and courage,” Singh said during his speech.

He later uploaded a post on Facebook as a response to the incident. “Despite this person’s anger and hate, I told them that we loved them, respected them and would protect their rights,” he said. “It is important that we stand united against all forms of hate,” Singh added.

“It takes love to understand that we’re all in this together. It takes courage to come together, demand better and dream bigger, so that we can build a world where no one is left behind,” he concluded, and signed off with his slogan, ”With love and Courage”.

With #LoveAndCourage pic.twitter.com/eRbuvOWNJX

— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) September 10, 2017

Jagmeet Singh: All You Need to Know

Singh is the first turban-wearing Sikh to sit as a provincial legislator in Ontario. He was born in 1976 to Indian parents who hail from Punjab. Singh spent his childhood at St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Windsor, Ontario. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

Before entering politics, Singh worked as a trial lawyer, and even offered free legal rights seminars across Ontario. He also provided pro bono legal counsel for people and organizations in need.