Joginder Bassi, the well-known host of the Gaunda Punjab Radio and TV show, has become the target of an intense social media storm following comments he made on the program last month.
Based in Toronto, Bassi caused an uproar when he described female international students from India as lazy and promiscuous. He went on to call them home wreckers, saying that they’re just coming to Canada to find husbands.
The outrage began in November when a woman called in to Bassi’s show, complaining about international students from India. The woman, speaking Punjabi, suggested the government limit the number of students allowed, describing the females as people who “think they can do whatever they want” and they “spread so much garbage around”.
Bassi engaged in the conversation concurring and saying that these students don’t work, and are having babies not knowing the father’s identity. He went on to say the students are in search of a guy in Canada to take advantage of, causing divorces and ruining families.
“It’s a big problem,” Bassi said.
Gurudwaras, the Sikh temples that offer free food to all in an effort to alleviate hunger, are being taken advantage of as well, Bassi said.
Harpreet Kaur is a 26-year-old nursing student from India, attending Kitchener-Waterloo’s Conestoga College. She found Bassi’s comments offensive and discouraging.
“You are really discouraging people who are really working hard here to make their future because they’re really starting from nothing to build everything here.” Kaur told CBC News.
In an interview she said Bassi’s show, which is seen in Toronto and in India, has caused worry and fear among some parents about what their daughters may be up to in Canada.
“There were parents who haven’t been to Canada and they were really worried about their girls. Especially there were parents who thought it may be right,” Kaur said.
Harjot Mannan, a 23-year-old from the Indian state of Punjab who studies at Toronto’s Centennial College deplored Bassi’s statements.
“You’re targeting a whole community and you’re saying negative things about them and that’s so sad,” Mannan told CBC.
“When he says that we’re not paying our bills or finding a man just to get married, that is just wrong.”
And, particularly, as a member of the Punjabi community, Bassi should know better, Mannan said.
“When someone from this community says this kind of thing, that makes me angry.” Harjot Mannan is telling people to write to the CRTC to demand Bassi’s show be taken off the air.
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