It doesn't matter why or how Singh was elected. What matters is what he has done since what he intends on doing, and whether he should stay in the position he currently holds. Also, it was a cheap shot to post an article dredging up, yet again, the non-issue of his views on what happened on an Air India flight WHEN HE WAS A CHILD.
If you want to help avoid an NDP disaster, then let's talk about that. If you have issues with Singh due to his being a Sikh, you are not on the left or even the center-left and to my mind it might fairly be asked whether the hell you should be posting on a progressive board.
It's sadly indicative of the state of the NDP that thousands of long-time members who are deeply worried by the direction the Party has taken in the past 18 months should stand accused of pedalling right-wing conspiracy theories and anti-Sikh racism. Alas, that is what comes of putting identity politics ahead of class and of showing a willful blindness toward the emergence of diaspora politics in Canada. These concerns have been voiced by respected analysts of Canadian politics, including Phil Resnick of UBC. We ignore them at our peril. After all, tens of thousands of members and supporters have stopped making financial contributions to the Federal NDP and are unwilling to vote for NDP candidates--hence the precipitous decline in NDP support in recent federal by-elections.
It is no "paranoid conspiracy" to rccognize that a relatively unknown candidate, but one who was best known in his own community as an outspoken critic of the Indian government and its attitude toward Sikh separatists in India and abroad, won a stunning first-ballot victory after having signed up tens of thousands of new members through Sikh temples in Brampton, Mississauga, and Surrey.
There's no need to rehash Singh's mishandling of the Air India questions he faced after having addressed rallies of pro-Khalistan activisits that featured images of Talwinder Singh Parmar, who masterminded the Air India bombing. Singh's prolonged refusal to acknowledge Parmar's role in this atrocity did irreparable damage to him in the eyes of many ordinary citizens--as can be seen by the number of reader comments posted on mainstream news sites that rue the day the NDP elected such an unsuitable leader. Yes, there are clearly racists among them but it is folly to paint all or most of them with that brush.
To say that Singh had no obligation to address the issue on the grounds that "he was child" in 1985 is sheer nonsense. I wasn't even born during the Second World War but I unreservedly condemn Naziism; what's more, I would certainly expect to be questioned about it if I had attended and spoken at rallies organized by neo-Nazis in recent years.
If it's an offence against the values of the Left to be troubled by these matters then the NDP is in need of a massive purge of its membership rolls. But that may not be necessary as untold numbers have already chosen to sit on their hands if not exit the Party. I'm not among them, though. A member and active supporter since the early 1970s, I'm not going anywhere. In an era of unbridled corporate power that is literally taking humankind to the brink of extinction, the need for a democratic socialist party in Canada has never been more urgent. Getting the NDP back on track is an admittedly tall order and it certainly goes well beyond the shortcomings of the current leader. But Singh is unquestionably an unhelpful distraction.