April 30 was my last day with Spice Radio 1200 AM. I worked as a newscaster and talk show host with the Burnaby-based radio station for more than a decade.
What made this journey enjoyable was the complete freedom given to me to by our team leader and seasoned broadcaster Shushma Datt.
Never did I have any difficulty in speaking out my mind, picking up controversial and inconvenient topics for discussions or inviting guests some other radio stations might not even dare to entertain. In fact, the circumstances under which Shushma ji took me into her embrace were very telling.
I had previously worked with Radio India in Surrey for 13 years. My relationship with that station ended on a very sad note as management did not want me to criticize the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, who also leads India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
Modi became prime minister in 2014 and was about to visit the United States. Several groups, including Muslims and Sikhs, were organizing a protest against him because of concerns over how Modi would treat minorities in India. I invited one of the organizers, Gurpatwant Singh Pannu from Sikhs For Justice, for an interview, which riled my employer. The station did not want me to have him on air for his support for a separate Sikh homeland of Khalistan.
Years later, the U.S. government accused Indian agents of conspiring to kill Pannu through a hired hit man.
Even though I never supported Khalistan, I wanted to cover the protest, considering the BJP’s dismal record on minority rights that are being trampled in India with impunity. But my employer wasn’t convinced and following a heated argument, I decided to quit.
Shushma let freedom reign
I did not know Datt personally, but a friend who used to work for her station was following the whole episode on social media. He gave me a call to ask if I would like to work for her. He was kind enough to say that my voice was important. He then spoke with her and she invited me for the interview.
I candidly told her everything and she hired me shortly after that. This obviously rattled people at the Indian consulate and Modi’s supporters. In spite of pressure from them, Datt remained steadfast in her decision, and the rest is history.
Since then, I never looked back and continued to invite guests critical of Modi without any fear or intimidation. So much so, I had Pannu on-air several times, as well as his colleague and Surrey-Delta Gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar. I interviewed Nijjar exactly a month before his assassination on June 18, 2023.
It is believed that Nijjar was murdered at the behest of the Indian government for his involvement in the Khalistan movement. The failed plot against Pannu was revealed around the same time.
Ironically, Datt had received many threats from the supporters of Khalistan in the past, but she never stopped me from speaking with Nijjar and Pannu. Often, she was unfairly targeted through a whisper campaign for merely interviewing the late Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had an uncomfortable relationship with the Sikh community.
Yet Datt never discouraged me from doing shows that were critical of Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party, whose leaders were responsible for the 1984 Sikh genocide.
Kshama Sawant delivered a defiant message to Republicans and Democrats after receiving Spice Radio’s anti-racism award.
Raising hands against racism
My first-hand experience of working with her will put to shame those people who continue to attack her because she is a Hindu and a woman. She runs her broadcasting outlet with complete fairness despite many hardships and challenges from a male-dominated society.
I remember how I had to retort to many nasty comments from ignorant and chauvinist people within the Sikh community. What pained me even more was that some of the so-called progressives were also influenced by such prejudices.
When Datt started a campaign against racism in 2015 and was looking for a potential recipient for the first annual award, she asked for my recommendation. I suggested Baltej Singh Dhillon, the first turbaned Sikh RCMP officer, to which she readily agreed. Dhillon faced down a racist backlash when he made history in this way.
The last recipient, Kshama Sawant, who was honoured in March this year, was also my humble recommendation. Sawant, a former Seattle councilmember, had brought forward an ordinance in 2023 against caste-based discrimination within orthodox Hindu society. She has also been critical of Modi’s anti-minority policies. For that, she was denied visa by the Indian government, which did not let her visit her ailing mother.
If Datt was biased, why would she agree to these small gestures?
In the meantime, she happily interviewed two journalists from India invited by me and my friends. One was Rana Ayyub and the other was Teesta Setalavad, both vocal critics of Modi. Setalavad was thrown behind bars in India on trumped-up charges in 2022.
I will always cherish my time with Spice Radio and for that I cannot thank Shushma ji enough.
Gurpreet Singh is a B.C. author and co-founder of Radical Desi. Follow him on Bluesky @gurpreetradical.bsky.social. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia, Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social, and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
