Deputy leader of the BC Green Party Dr Sanjiv Gandhi was fired from his position for liking a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which called BC’s top doctor Bonnie Henry: “Queenie Bonnie ‘Mengele’ Henry”.
Josef Mengele was an infamous Nazi doctor who experimented on concentration camp victims during the Second World War.
Green leader Sonia Furstenau later tweeted, “Today, I was made aware of Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi, deputy leader, liking a tweet with an inappropriate comparison between our provincial health officer and Mengele. I find this unacceptable and I have removed Dr. Gandhi as deputy leader and accepted his resignation as a candidate.”
Gandhi was named deputy leader in January. He is former chief of pediatric cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at BC Children’s Hospital and has been an outspoken critic of the government’s health-care policy, including its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gandhi was set to run in the 2024 election for a seat in Vancouver-Renfrew, currently represented by Health Minister Adrian Dix.
In a statement Thursday, Gandhi said he liked the September post “inadvertently” and in error, and that he has since “unliked” it.
“We can be passionate and aggressive in criticizing the government, but personal attacks are categorically wrong, as was my misplaced ‘like,'” his statement said.
“As the subject of considerable racism in my own life, I know that words matter, and I do not condone the belittling or demonization of any group of people for any reason, including those based on race or religion. I am sorry for the harm I have caused,” he said.
