Why did he not just catch an Air Canada flight back home rather than cool his heels for many embarrassing extra hours in his hotel room is what most Indians wondered upon hearing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official plane could not take off due to a glitch. Many suggested that he should have used the extra time to consult an Indian astrologer for a ring of hessonite, sapphire or cat’s eye, as well as do a puja to ward off malevolent influences.
Things have hardly been tickety-boo for him during the past few months, after all. Maybe he used his extra time in Delhi to ponder about his domestic predicaments, personal and political, as he waited for the second aircraft to fly in from Canada, the carbon footprint for a largely wasted visit notwithstanding. Unfortunately, that second plane did not arrive, so he had to wait for his original aircraft to be repaired in New Delhi before finally flying home.
Not many people in India, (and probably in Canada too) know that the 1.8 million Canadians of Indian origin are not overwhelmingly Sikh. According to Statistique Canada, as per the 2021 census, 770,000 people reported Sikhism as their religion or 2.1% of the population. In the same census, nearly 830,000 people or 2.3% of the population said they were Hindu. Yet Trudeau appears to curiously insist on looking at India through the prism of Sikh separatist politics.
Clearly, Trudeau is not one to opt for common sense over perception. And his taking potshots at India at this juncture underlines this. Just before heading to New Delhi, he paused the ongoing bilateral trade talks with India, following up on his National Security Advisor Jody Thomas’s broadside this June, alleging India has been interfering in Canada’s internal affairs. Thomas, in effect, had lumped India with known offenders China, Iran and Russia.
And all this, presumably, partly because of pressure from Trudeau’s partner (in politics, that is, as his marriage has just broken up) to give India a hard time in return for ensuring his minority government survives. That partner is Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party, whose 25 votes in Parliament are very crucial indeed for the increasingly shaky Liberal Party. And Singh is obviously intent on getting his 25 votes’ worth from Trudeau.
The ‘interference’ allegation by the Canadian NSA was ironic given that Singh’s anti-India tweets on happenings in Punjab (which, as far as we know, is not and is unlikely to ever be a province of Canada) led to the suspension of his account in India during the security forces’ operations to catch Amritpal Singh. Undeterred, Singh demanded Trudeau should intervene to stop the supposed “draconian measures” and “suspension of civil liberties” in India.
So interference was okay by Singh if Canada did it. Eventually, Trudeau stuck to a cautious “We are monitoring the situation in Punjab closely” line back in March this year. And foreign minister Mélanie Joly, who has since controversially retained her job in the Trudeau cabinet despite a desultory record, echoed her boss and added: “You can always count on Canada to make sure that we will continue to address the concerns of many members of the community.”
But much water has flowed down the Ottawa River since then. The Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre now clearly leads in most of the opinion polls—12 points ahead of the Liberals nationally—and Trudeau’s minority government has to survive till the general elections scheduled for 2025. And crucially, besides Singh’s 25 lawmakers (among whom he is the only Sikh-Canadian), the Liberal Party has 14 Sikh MPs and the Conservatives have four.
Canada’s recent acts of omission and commission regarding India raise suspicions that while Singh is partially pushing a personal agenda besides the NDP’s official demands, the disproportionately large Sikh presence in politics prompts Canada’s leaders to pull their punches even when faced with blatantly aggressive actions. A tableau in a parade in the Indian-dominated area of Brampton in June this year celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination is a shocking example.
The fact that Canada-based Khalistani extremists dared to put a target on the back of India’s High Commissioner and other diplomats in July indicates they knew there would be no real crackdown by Canadian authorities. Temples have also been vandalised and defaced with threatening graffiti, particularly in areas considered strongholds of the NDP. Again, there is an indication that the authorities have been slow to get to the bottom of these communal incidents.
The same vocal and visible Khalistani cohort has demanded that Canada shut down India’s diplomatic missions because Trudeau was supposedly ticked off by India during the G20 Summit for his lackadaisical approach to terror activities on Canadian soil. Interestingly, Singh was denied an Indian visa in December 2013—during the Manmohan Singh government—by the consulate in Toronto. So his grudge against Indian consular officials is understandable.
However, Trudeau’s statement explaining his inaction over the increasingly aggressive activities of Khalistanis in Canada—including a “referendum”—as defending “freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and freedom of peaceful protest” was less understandable. As was his assertion that Canada will “always prevent violence and push back against hatred” given that Khalistanis there have now threatened to kill India’s home and foreign ministers.
Merely by adding that “I think on the issue of the community, it is important to remember that the actions of the few do not represent the entire community or Canada” will not assuage India’s apprehensions or annoyance. Particularly since a “few” of that community have brazenly claimed that over 1 lakh people “voted” on Khalistan and have announced a second “referendum” on October 29. Imagine if some Canadian malcontents held a referendum on Quebec in India…
Perhaps India should also feel flattered that it is now being portrayed as a country that goes about “neutralising” its opponents abroad—usually the preserve of superpowers (past and present). The killing of Khalistanis Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, Canada and the “mysterious” death of Avtar Singh Khanda in the UK, both known to be behind attacks and protests around Indian missions, have provided an unexpected boost to India’s new “surgical strike” image.
The fact that militant, separatist Khalistanis represent neither the majority opinion in the Sikh community nor of Indo-Canadians as a whole, needs to be reiterated by Trudeau, understood by all political party leaders, and followed up with confidence-building measures regarding India. A wider variety of Indo-Canadians also need to come into the political arena so that the Khalistanis do not continue to punch above their weight and skew the policy towards India.
Trudeau displayed his alarming lack of common sense when he did not save tons of aviation fuel by simply taking an Air Canada flight instead of asking for another plane to come round the world to pick him up. Nor is it likely that he consulted an astrologer for some rings. But hopefully, he used his extra hours in India to understand this country better and figure out why he was cold-shouldered in New Delhi despite his boyish charm and impeccable pedigree.
The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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