A prominent human-rights advocate and author who's popular within the local South Asian community has put his name forward for public office.

Lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka will be the candidate for the Ludhiana parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election in the Indian state of Punjab.

He has been nominated by the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has emerged out of the grassroots movement of activists against corruption.        

Phoolka has been singlehandedly fighting for justice to the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom engineered by Congress officials following the assassination of the then-Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.

He coauthored the book When A Tree Shook Delhi, which is based on the anti-Sikh violence.

The title takes a dig at the former prime minister and her son Rajiv Gandhi, who claimed that the violence was a natural reaction to the assassination of his mother. In a famous speech he once said, "When a big tree falls, the earth around it shakes."

Significantly, there was no such reaction when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 by a Hindu Tamil suicide bomber associated with the Tamil separatists active in Sri Lanka.   

Phoolka has visited Canada a few times and is admired within the local Sikh community, which has spearheaded a campaign for justice over the last 30 years. No senior Congress leaders have been convicted for the mass murders of Sikhs.

The AAP, which claims to represent the interests of ordinary people in India, bagged 28 out of total 70 seats in the recently held assembly election in New Delhi, the political capital of India.

The party was able to form a minority government, but its rule ended only after 49 days in office.

The AAP leader, Arvind Kejriwal, resigned after his government had failed to pass an anticorruption bill, which was part of his party's election mandate.

The bill was blocked both by Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the two major established political parties of India. The BJP received the rudest shock when it fell short of the majority in the house and could not form the government, despite being the largest party with 31 seats.

During its brief tenure, the AAP government gave a green light to establishing a special investigation team to look into the 1984 carnage and reexamining all cases of mass murder—as well as the role of police, who allegedly sided with goons let loose to target the Sikh community.

Before the election AAP supporters also staged a fast in solidarity with victims of the 1984 violence. Influenced by these developments, Phoolka joined the AAP.

He was upset because a senior pro-BJP lawyer had been trying to help political conspirators behind the anti-Sikh violence.

The BJP is also accused of mimicking Congress and inciting the anti-Muslim massacre in Gujarat in 2002 after more than 50 Hindu train passengers were burned to death. That incident was blamed on the Muslim fanatics. 

The AAP has also nominated Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh as a candidate from Delhi. Singh once hurled a shoe at the then-Indian Home Minister P. Chidambram during a news conference when the latter tried to give clean chit to the Congress leaders involved in the pogrom.

Singh was later sacked by the newspaper he worked for. He has also authored a book, I Accuse....     

Phoolka's decision has been widely welcomed by Sikhs in Canada, who are as upset as many Indian voters are with established parties for corruption, dynastic politics, and encouraging religious fanaticism.

There is also a widespread anger against the Akali Dal, the powerful regional party of Punjab, which describes itself as "sole defender" of Sikh interests.

The Akali Dal is not only a staunch ally of the BJP, its president and the deputy chief minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, tried to discredit Phoolka by claiming that he was given money to fight cases on behalf of the 1984 victims.

For years, the Akali Dal had been portraying Phoolka as a hero and used the anti-Sikh violence as a tool to defeat Congress.

Meanwhile, Phoolka has vehemently denounced the allegation and threatened to sue Badal.

It is pertinent to mention that when Phoolka visited Surrey last time, he gave a jolt to Sikh separatists, who tried to appropriate his struggle with their fight for an independent Sikh state. He announced that he is a proud Indian and his fight is for human rights and dignity.

Phoolka also refused to accept their sponsorship for his visit to Canada. He has time and again opposed terrorism and instead, encouraged people not to resort to violent and disruptive protests, which inconvenience the public.

He was also a part of the campaign to plant trees in memory of those killed in 1984.

Phoolka can be best described as a defender of secularism, a principle highly cherished by the Indian constitution, but which has been conveniently violated by the ruling parties more than once.

In the meantime, B.C.-based AAP supporters have organized a public event this Sunday, February 23 at the Bombay Banquet Hall in Surrey between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. The event is open to public and everyone is welcome to attend.