-My guest tonight is not a guest at all,
he's a friend from my hometown of Toronto,
and I live for moments like this,
where there is not one but two Singhs
on late night television.
Give it up for my boy Jagmeet Singh!
Hello!
-What's up, Lilly?
-I am so happy to have you here right now.
I don't think you understand. -Thank you.
-Look at you! You look amazing.
How are you so cool?
-I'm not, but I'm honored to be on the show with you.
This is super dope. -Oh, God. Come on.
-Jagmeet, now, obviously I know you.
We go back. We know each other from Toronto.
I've had the honor and privilege of hanging out with you.
For everyone watching at home,
because there's a lot of Americans that watch the show
that might not be as savvy,
tell the audience who you are, a little bit about yourself.
-I am the leader of one of the largest political parties
in Canada,
and I'm someone who believes deeply in the fact
that we're all connected,
and if people around us are struggling,
then we're struggling,
and if we lift each other up, we all rise.
I'm someone who also has gone through struggles myself.
I know what it's like to face financial difficulty.
We went through lots of ups and downs, lost our home,
and I remember those struggles when I think about
how we can fight for a better world,
so that's who I am.
-Have you heard a better introduction or summary
from anyone ever?
This is Jagmeet Singh.
We are not related.
-Yes, I understand. -And I want to be related!
-I want to be related, too. Lilly Singh, Jagmeet Singh.
There's a reason why we're both named Singh.
Jagmeet, you dropped the Dhaliwal from your name, right?
-I did. I dropped the last name, because last name reflects
your caste or your status in society.
Sikh spiritual tradition is all about the idea that
we are all one, that no one is better or worse
and everyone is equal, so I dropped it,
because I really believe in this idea
that we should celebrate each other for who we are,
and that no one is special because of their last name.
All of us are special, just because of who we are.
-Now, I don't think anyone would describe politics
as a necessarily easy or very comfortable place to be.
Was there a moment where you were like,
"No, I want to be of service in politics?"
-The real deal story is,
basically, my brother made me do it,
is the real deal, straight up story.
-That's some honesty. Gurratan, we're talking about, right?
-Gurratan, Gurratan made me do it, basically.
The only way you can thrive is if you give back,
and so he convinced me that being a lawyer is cool,
but we could give back bigger if we got into politics,
and represented an entire community, an entire city,
an entire province, and so that was the motivation.
It started off a little bit of guilt-tripping
from my brother and a friend,
and it turned into a journey to give back
in a way that reflected my mama's belief
in surviving versus thriving,
and thriving meaning "give back."
-I love that so much.
I also love that I think this is the first time,
potentially in the history of my show,
that in someone's answer,
they've said the word "province,"
and I'm ecstatic.
Yes, Canada has provinces, y'all. This is a thing.
Canada also passed some legislation related to
terrorist groups, correct?
-Yes, yes. That was huge.
We basically built on a lot of momentum,
thousands of people signed our petition.
I put forward a motion in Parliament,
calling on Parliament to acknowledge
the threat of white supremacy, and specifically,
to ban the Proud Boys, label them a terrorist organization.
We got that done, so shout out to everybody
who made that possible.
We fought for it and we won.
This is just one step to acknowledging
the real threats that people are faced with right now
are more often domestic terrorism, domestic threats,
particularly from extreme right-wing groups
so really honored to have been able to lead the charge,
but shout us all the people that made that happen.
-You've also previously said that
when you are confronted with hate,
you try your best to respond with kindness.
Do you have any examples of that?
Because I think you've been in a few situations
that were probably a little uncomfortable.
-Yeah, this one video that went super viral
when I, back in the day,
when I first was running to become leader of the party,
someone who's interrupting a rally
and came in really aggressive
and was saying that I was a terrorist
and calling me all sorts of things.
People asked me, why didn't I just say I wasn't a Muslim?
Because she's claiming I was a Muslim terrorist.
And I always said, you know,
any time I'm confronted with Islamophobia,
I will never respond by saying I'm not a Muslim.
I will always respond by saying
that I don't believe in that type of hate.
-I want you guys to check out this video,
because it's so powerful.
I've watched it 900 times. Check it out.
-What this is -- -We all know what he said!
-We don't want to be intimidated by hate.
We don't want hatred to ruin a positive event.
Right? -Go ahead!
-We don't want hatred to ruin a positive event,
so let's show people how we would treat someone with love.
We welcome you.
We welcome you. We welcome you. We love you.
-Absolutely incredible. Patience of a king, truly.
-I think that was a special thing
for a lot of people to see,
that you don't have to respond to hate and anger
with the same kind of anger, but you can respond with love.
I feel like we can go a lot further in life, if we did that.
-You are like, TikTok with people.
You're cool, you're stylish.
Kids are like, "I think this is so amazing.
I want to talk about politics."
You even gotten the attention of people like Rihanna.
Is it true Rihanna follows you, correct?
-That's correct, and we've chatted and stuff
on DM, and I got to say, for me, I don't get it.
Like, I don't think I'm anybody that
deserves to have the honor, but thank you.
-Well, speaking of Rihanna, you know,
Rihanna did something epic a few days ago.
Rihanna tweeted about the farmer protest happening in India.
And I want to talk about this, because I know
you've posted about it a lot.
I've posted about it, but it's obviously
something very powerful and special
when someone of the stature of Rihanna
posts about the farmer protests in India,
so shout out to Rihanna.
But for those watching at home that maybe are not too familiar,
can you talk a little bit about what the farmer protest is?
Why are farmers protesting in India right now?
-Sure. And the reason why I know about this
is because there is a big diaspora,
a lot of people that come from farming families
that have immigrated to Canada and the United States,
so it really touches home to a lot of people
who've got family members back in Punjab and in India,
and it directly impacts their loved ones.
So what's going on in India, for the past number of years,
it's become harder and harder for farmers to earn a living,
and so farmer suicide is on the rise.
And on top of that, the government recently
is bringing in bills that will make it even harder
for farmers to earn a decent living.
And there's a massive number of farmers that still,
that is one of their primary ways of earning
a living for a lot of people in India.
So farmers have come together saying,
"We are standing up for our rights
to be able to continue to farm."
The contest or the tension is between local, small farmers
and large, corporate farms that were going to come in,
and so these farmers are standing up for themselves.
On top of protesting
and fighting the fight of their lives,
they're providing food, education,
menstrual products and other services, which is incredible,
that people who are working towards justice
for themselves and other farmers are also thinking about
the plight of people beyond that,
which is a really powerful part of this movement.
-Things like this don't always
get the media coverage they deserve.
You know, they're not spoken about.
They're often swept under the rug.
Farmer protesters are facing a lot of violence.
There's a narrative being created.
That narrative, which we are so familiar with,
because it's a tired narrative,
but what is that narrative that's been created?
-So what's happening is,
while farmers are just asking for their rights,
by asking for the rights,
they're being labeled as terrorists.
They're being considered disloyal to the country,
just because they're standing up for their rights.
And so what's happening is they're being met with
extreme violence by Indian police forces.
Even journalists are being arrested, and there's
a number of journalists who have come forward saying,
"We were intimidated and arrested
simply for covering the story."
So there is a very violent and suppressive
and oppressive climate being created
by the Indian state and by the police.
When it comes to democracy, you're supposed to
welcome and allow for this debate to happen,
allow for protest, but what we're seeing
is anything but that.
-Now, I don't think there's an easy solution,
but what can people do if they're watching at home?
They're just learning about this,
or if they're very informed about this,
what can people do to help this cause?
-I think one of the first things
is to learn more about it,
and if you do know about it, share.
Share information, let people know about it.
The public pressure, international pressure,
is an incredible tool to help the the farmers
that are fighting for their rights
have that that story told, and also to raise awareness
around the violence that they're facing.
We want the Indian government to know the world is watching,
and that a democracy can't hold itself out to be a democracy
if they're going to meet
peaceful protesters with violence.
I think the international community can do a lot,
so spread awareness, use social media,
let people know about it, write to your local official,
your elected officials, and if we can
put enough pressure on the Indian government,
hopefully at least there will be no violence.
And ultimately, we want to see a resolution
that supports the rights of farmers.
-Compassion, education, unity.
I feel like those are the key words.
I'm trying to move forth with, you know?
-Wait a second.
Maybe I got to get you on the team.
-Coming up with, like... -Come on, get out of here.
...communications. That's dope.
-Thank you so much for all of the education.
I encourage everyone watching at home,
if this is the first time you're hearing about this,
there's many resources out there
where you can learn about the farmer protests.
It is a very, very big deal.
What's your next move?
Are you going to move from MP to PM, or what? What's up?
-That is the plan, my sister. That is the plan.
I am running to become the next prime minister of Canada,
and we're seeing incredible support,
particularly among young people.
So that's the goal. I'm fighting.
I'm in this to fight for people, because I believe
that I can make a difference in their lives
and lift people up. People deserve it.
And me, as prime minister, would make that happen.