Jagmeet wins crucial Parliament bypoll in Canada

JALANDHAR: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has reached Canadian parliamentary by winning the by-election from Burnaby South seat. The victory was crucial for him to lead the party in general election of Canada and to stay in the race for the post of prime minister.

He got 39 per cent of the votes while the Liberals followed with 26 per cent, followed by the Conservatives with 22.5 per cent.

Jagmeet earlier remained Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) of Ontario and in October 2017 he became federal leader of NDP and announced to officially launch his campaign to be Prime Minister of Canada.

Jagmeet, a second generation Sikh-Punjabi in Canada and in the past also shared his personal story recalling his childhood days that how he was bullied because he had "a funny sounding name, brown skin and long hair," but he learnt to stand up for himself.

In December 2013 Jagmeet was denied visa by India. He had said that he was denied visa by the Indian authorities while he was to come visit Amritsar for attending an Awards ceremony by two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which selected him for Sikh of the Year Award. He had told TOI that the Indian government was apparently annoyed with him for strongly raising voice of justice for victims of anti-Sikh riots of November 1984."I have been propagating the issue that these were not riots between two communities but a state sponsored massacre," Jagmeet had told TOI.