A video got viral on social media on 28th September, wherein masked pro-Palestinian protesters from Malton, Mississuaga in Canada, can be seen defacing the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire. The social media user Leviathan, who published the video, identified the person defacing the statue as Hosaam Hamdan, who has a history of defacing statues of cultural significance.
In a post on X, the user wrote, ‘Frequently masked protester Hosaam Hamdan defacing a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a massive insult to the Sikh community as he is the first Maharaja & founder of the Sikh Empire. Hosaam Hamdan has a history of defacing statues of cultural significance, so this should not be observed as a 1-off instance’.
Senior correspondent for the National Telegraph, Daniel Bordman, wrote, ‘Jihadists in Canada attack and deface a statue of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh was the father of the Sikh Empire, the last man to successfully hold Afghanistan and generally loved by all in South Asia. This isn’t about Israel or Palestine, it’s about the destruction of everything that is not part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s worldview’.
The length of viral video is around 37 seconds wherein two Palestinian masked protesters can be seen on the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. One of them can be seen tying a cloth on the horse of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Notably, the video was shot by several protesters present at the scene. The Peel Police of Canada have been informed about the incident, which is being looked into, but they have not released any official statement.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue has been a target of Islamists before. A similar incident occurred at Lahore Fort in Pakistan in August 2021 where a nine-foot-tall statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was vandalised for the third time by members of a Pakistani political party. The statue was pulled down by workers of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (an Islamist political party).
The TLP workers first broke the arm of the statue and then dislodged it completely. The two workers entered the fort posing as a disabled person and his helper. The man, who pretended to have a leg disability, hit the statue with the rod he was carrying. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was an exemplary and powerful Sikh ruler who successfully repelled numerous Afghan attacks in Punjab and safeguarded the region from invasion. He is often referred to as the “Lion of Punjab.” He was the founder and first ruler of the Sikh Empire, established in the early 19th century.
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