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Dosanjh persists despite setbacks

J M Shenoy

On one hand, Ujjal Dosanjh, the suave, tough-talking attorney general of British Columbia, has reportedly the support of at least 500 of the 878 delegates who will choose the new leader of the New Democratic Party this weekend.

On the other hand, the man, who would be the first Asian premier in Canada, has to continue fighting the negative publicity surrounding the registration of new party members by his supporters.

An internal auditing by the NDP last week found that at least 1,500 of the 11,000 members enrolled by Dosanjh supporters during the last quarter of 1999 had no idea that they were joining the party.

Most of the new members are Indo-Canadians, with substantial number being Sikhs. Dosanjh had ordered his supporters to stop the enrolment when the controversy broke out last year. Adding to the controversy was Moe Sihota, a fellow Sikh, who is close to fundamentalists. Dosanjh has been a fierce opponent of Khalistani politics.

Dosanjh's supporters say many of the 1,500 "faulty" new partymen did not understand what the party auditors were asking.

"Had there been enough Punjabi-speaking translators, they would have answered correctly," said a Dosanjh supporter.

Meanwhile, his opponents continued faulting Dosanjh for allowing the mass registration mission, saying his election will forever cloud the NDP and lessen its already weak position to win the general election in about two years.

But Dosanjh's supporters say he should not be blamed for the mistakes some of his overzealous supporters might have committed.

Some also see subtle racism, particularly since Dosanjh's rival, Gordon Wilson, whose wife is of Indian origin and was born in Calcutta, also sought mass enrolment in the Indian community. But he was far less successful than Dosanjh and has not come in for any criticism.

Dosanjh has said his intention was not to enrol only Indian Canadians but minorities of different hues. He wanted to make the NDP far more multicultural than it is.

The mistakes in enrolment were not "as widespread" as some people contented, Raj Chouhan, an official in Dosanjh's campaign office, told reporters.

He also complained that some groups "are trying to give a bad name to the Indian-Canadian community." He did not specify and refused to discuss the allegation.

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