Chantal Hébert: NDP brain trust was unprepared to manage Sikh independence controversy
(The Star Food)

One of the first tasks of an opposition leader is to avoid providing a diversion from a government in trouble.Over the past week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has failed rather spectacularly at that basic task.At a time when the prime minister is licking self-inflicted wounds from a poorly executed visit to India, Singh’s travails over his relationship with the Sikh separatist movement have conveniently shifted the spotlight away from the Liberals.For the most part, they and the Conservatives have taken pains not to pile on the rookie NDP leader. That is not a product of a sudden outbreak of charity.The first have no interest in turning Singh into a political martyr in the eyes of his sizable religious community. And to have a hope of winning next year’s election the Conservatives need the New Democrats to hold their own against Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.In any event, both the Liberals and the Conservatives know from first-hand experience that media criticism usually hurts more than any amount of partisan attacks. This week Singh was on the receiving end of a barrage of scathing commentary.Here are some other take-aways from the NDP leader’s week from hell.The whole thing could have been avoided.Singh first ran into trouble over the issue of Sikh separatism and the terrorism that has been associated with that cause on his first day on the job as NDP leader.In an interview led by veteran CBC journalist Terry Milewski, Singh repeatedly evaded questions about the glorification in some quarters of the Sikh community of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the man widely considered to be the architect of the 1985 Air India bombing. Singh is a federal rookie whose only political experience prior to becoming NDP leader was in opposition at the provincial level. At the time of his first-ballot victory he may have been unaware of the heightened degree of media scrutiny that attends a national leadership position.But the NDP does not lack for seasoned strategists w ...