| Issue 21 Vol I, August 15, 2006 | Archive |
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Gulzar Cheema stays with the Liberals THE former BC Minister, Dr. Gulzar Cheema has dropped the idea of joining the ruling Conservative Party of Canada. Following a sharp criticism from the Indo Canadian community, he has decided not to shift his loyalty from the Federal Liberal Party to the Tories. Sources close to Cheema, however, revealed that he won’t remain in the Liberal Party either. His Liberal membership has expired on August 2. He is not expected to renew it. He had earlier indicated that he would consider all options about his political future once his Liberal membership expires. Cheema had quit the British Columbia government to join the Federal Liberal Party. He had tried his luck in the federal election unsuccessfully. The Liberals had promised to accommodate him if he lost. However, they did not keep their promise. He was tipped to be appointed as the Canadian Counsel General in Chandigarh. Media reports had also speculated that he would be the Canadian Counsel General, but it never happened. This had frustrated Dr. Cheema, who turned to his practice as a physician in Surrey. He now gives health tips on a local radio station. Cheema’s decision to join the Tories was out of this frustration. The Indo Canadian community which has traditionally supported the Federal Liberal Party was not happy with his decision. The Indo Canadian Liberal MP, Sukh Dhaliwal was also surprised at the reports about Cheema’s decision to join the Conservatives. He had urged Cheema to reconsider his decision. Cheema is an Indo-Canadian physician, who has been a Liberal MLA both in Manitoba and in British Columbia, where he was also Minister of State for Immigration and Multicultural Services in Gordon Campbell's Liberal government. In the federal election of 2004, Cheema was a Liberal candidate in the riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells but lost to Grewal's wife Nina. Cheema has made it clear to his friends that he cannot stick with the Liberals either who have ``ditched’’ him after uprooting him from the BC government. “I think this is the best thing for me to do - not to be seen as just an opportunist and be painted as someone people can't trust. Even though I don't like what the (Liberals) doing and I like the present government and what they're doing...So I just want to sit out (the next election) and examine all options." He has been saying lately. He this decision after speaking with Vancouver South-Burnaby MP Herb Dhaliwal, Senators Sharon Carstairs and Mobina Jaffer, as well as Gerard Kennedy - whom he continues to support in the Liberal leadership race. It is pertinent to mention that the citizenship judge, Shinder Purewal has already joined the Tories. Purewal at one point was known as a committed Liberal and a follower of the former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. He evidently found going not so good, particularly when Martin is neither a prime minister nor the leader of the Liberal party in parliament. Purewal who had worked tirelessly for the Liberals was also not given his due except the post of an immigration judge. |
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Honour for
Gursharan Singh in Canada
Gursharan Singh was respectfully referred to as Bhaaji by every speaker. They included the NDP MLAs, Raj Chauhan and Harry Bains. Chetna has always taken up the cause of the dalit community. In an emotionally charged speech, Gursharan Singh called upon the audience to fight against the untouchability. He lamented that even 60 years after the independence of India, a section of the society is considered as untouchables. In Punjab, this grand old man of Punjabi theatre has continued with his popular street theatre for over two decades, right through the years of militancy, braving threats to his life and inspiring a whole generation of young theatre artists. He believes strongly and with passion that he wants the people to enjoy his plays and learn from them. He said that next year, his theatre group will organize plays throughout Punjab to mark the birth centenary of Shahid- a- Azam Bhagat Singh, who was opposed to such an institution that encouraged casteism and the human rights abuse of any section of the society. ``Today everyone deserves equal treatment. Let’s all join our hands to challenge the power structure controlled by the feudal lords’’, he urged. Gursharan Singh mentioned about a play his group had recently organized. It was about the dalit situation in Punjab. The play was about a dalit worker who was mercilessly beaten for raising his voice against oppression. His both legs and arms had to be amputated. Later, the organizers of the functioned presented a Punjabi film based on this subject. Kalaan is based on a short story written by Saravmeet, 43 year old Chandigarh based journalist who died June this year. Gursharan Singh had also produced a play called Nawan Janam based on this story. Earlier, at a separate function held at the Surrey Bell Performance Art Centre, he presented his four plays. These plays kept the audience spell bound. Gursharan Singh told SAP that very soon the collection of all his plays will be published in the form of a book. In india predominantly leftwing open-air theatre, described by the late Safdar Hashmi as ‘a militant political theatre of protest [whose] function is to agitate the people and to mobilize them behind fighting organizations.’ Its origins are undocumented, but go back to the anti-British and anti-fascist struggles of the late 1930s. Chargesheet (1951) is among the earliest known street plays. Utpal Dutt recalls that this play was done at the instance of Panu Pal, who interrupted an IPTA rehearsal one day and urged those present to do a quick, short, improvised play on the imprisonment of Communist leaders. The very next day Chargesheet was performed at Hazra Park in Calcutta to an audience of thousands of workers. It was then performed many times from Jalpaiguri to Canning. |
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A
progressive theatre personality, Gursharan Singh was honoured by the Chetna
Association in Surrey. The Association held a very small function, where
Gursharan Singh was honoured for his position on human rights and his
contribution to the progressive theatre.