Already bad relations between India and Canada have become even worse. The murder of Khalistani supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Monday took a turn for the worse, once again triggering a new diplomatic crisis between India and Canada.
The Canadian police chief claimed that Indian diplomatic and consular officials took advantage of their positions to collect information for the Indian government directly or through agents. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has since claimed that we provided evidence that Indian agents were involved in criminal activities. India has not cooperated despite repeated requests.
Since then, India has recalled a number of diplomats, including High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma. At the same time, India also expelled six Canadian diplomats and asked them to leave India before October 19.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has once again alleged that Indian government agents were involved in the murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. However, India has always denied all these accusations. On Monday, India’s foreign ministry again denied the accusations, calling them baseless. He also said Trudeau was engaging in “vote bank” politics.
Did Trudeau do this on purpose?
Justin Trudeau has been the Prime Minister of Canada since 2015. After Trudeau first came to power, he appointed four Sikh MPs as cabinet ministers. A total of 17 Sikh MPs won that election. Among them, 16 are from the Liberal Party led by Trudeau.
In March 2016, Trudeau mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in the United States. “I have more Sikhs in my cabinet than Modi,” he said. There were only two Sikh ministers in the Modi government at the time – Maneka Gandhi and Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Currently, the only Sikh minister in Trudeau’s cabinet is Hardeep S. A gentleman. Hardeep Sajjan is considered anti-India. Hardeep praised Canada on Monday when it expelled Indian diplomats. He wrote that he was pleased to see that legal agencies were working tirelessly to deal with this case, which has seriously affected the Sikh community. I’m lucky that we live in Canada where the laws are very strict.
When apologizing for events 100 years ago
In Canada, Trudeau’s love for the Sikh community, especially Khalistani supporters, runs deeper. At one point he was even dubbed “Justin Singh Trudeau.” In May 2016, he also apologized in Parliament for the incident that occurred 100 years ago.
In fact, in 1914, more than 376 Indians arrived in British Columbia, Canada, on a ship called the Komagata Maru. Most of them are Sikhs. Indians were not allowed to live there at that time. The Indians could only get there if the ships reached Canada directly without any stopover. The ship remained stationary for two months and 24 Indians were allowed to disembark. That ship was sent back to India.
About six months later, in September 1914, the ship arrived at Bajbaj Port in Calcutta. The British were ruling at the time and they decided to identify everyone on the ship. But here a conflict occurs. 20 passengers died in the conflict.
Justin Trudeau has apologized in Parliament for the incident. He believes Canada’s laws at the time were responsible for the incident and said we are devastated by the resulting deaths. Afterwards, Trudeau also visited the Golden Temple when he came to India for a seven-day visit in February 2018.
Visit India, invite Khalistani
In 2018, Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie paid a seven-day visit to India. During this time, the Trudeaus participated in many programs. Khalistani supporter Jaspal Atwal also appeared in one such programme.
Jaspal Atwal has received offers from Justin Trudeau’s projects in Mumbai and Delhi. Jaspal Atwal was spotted with Sophie Trudeau in Mumbai. Canadian Minister Amarjit Sohi also attended the event. When the incident caused an uproar, Canada disinvited Jaspal Atwal to a dinner hosted by Justin Trudeau in Delhi.
Jaspal Atwal has been a supporter of Khalistan and has been associated with the banned organization International Sikh Youth Federation. In 1986, Jaspal was convicted by a Canadian court for attempting to murder Punjab Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver, Canada. Malkit Singh survived that attack but was murdered in India. A Canadian court sentenced Jaspal to 20 years in prison.
But what does Trudeau gain from all this?
Trudeau has been in power since 2015 and has been unable to gain a majority in either 2019 or 2021. But his Liberal Party remains in power with the support of other parties.
Canada will hold parliamentary elections next October. Trudeau’s party is in decline. There are 338 seats in the Canadian Parliament, and 169 seats are needed to form a government. Trudeau’s Liberal Party currently holds 154 seats. Trudeau knows that if he wants to retain power, he must keep Sikhs by his side.
Sikhs are Canada’s largest minority community. According to the 2021 census, the number of Sikhs in Canada exceeds 770,000. After India, most Sikhs live in Canada. There are 300,000 Sikhs in Ontario, Canada, and more than 290,000 Sikhs in British Columbia. Sikhs make up 2.1% of Canada’s total population. This is why Trudeau is still busy trying to please the Sikhs.
A Canadian organization that conducts election surveys conducted a survey in May. It was revealed that all religious groups have lost trust in Trudeau’s Liberals. 54% of Sikhs surveyed said they would vote for the opposition Conservative Party. Only 21% of Sikhs support Trudeau’s Liberal Party. Similarly, 53% of Hindus also belong to the Conservative Party.
On the other hand, support for the New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh is increasing. 20% of Sikhs and 41% of Muslims said they would vote for the left-wing New Democratic Party. A few months ago, the NDP sided with the Trudeau government. The NDP withdrew its support in September. The New Democrats hold 24 seats in Parliament.
Trudeau is now trying to please the Sikhs for fear of losing his support base. Experts believe that Trudeau did this because he hopes to return to power in 2025.
Could it be counterproductive?
Trudeau hopes to return to power on the strength of Khalistan supporters, but few Sikhs in Canada want Khalistan.
Omar Aziz, foreign policy adviser to the Trudeau government, wrote an article last September. He wrote in the article that it is not new for India and Canada to blame each other on the issue of Khalistani and extremism, but sadly, Canadian citizens do not remember the hijacking and bombing of an Air India plane by Khalistani extremists in 1985 Flying events. .
“As long as I have been a foreign policy adviser, I have found that neither Canada takes India seriously, nor India takes Canada seriously,” he wrote. “Canada does not look beyond the United States and Europe, so our relationships with many countries Relations continued to deteriorate. When Trudeau visited India in 2018, Prime Minister Modi did not even welcome him.
He wrote that India has repeatedly said Canadian land is being used by Khalistani supporters. In this case, Canada should at least say that it does not support separatism on its soil. Because there is a large segment of Sikhs in Canada who do not want Khalistan. But Trudeau is concerned that Sikh votes could be lost to Jagmeet Singh.
Omar Aziz wrote this article at a time when Trudeau was blaming India for Nijar’s murder. Aziz wrote that some people may be upset by this, but the idea does huge damage to Canada’s reputation as a country.
He wrote that Modi has not always been a good friend of Canada, but Canada has suffered the most from it. Modi’s acceptance in the world has grown, while Canada remains isolated. He wrote that instead of laying direct charges, Canada should investigate the murder of a Canadian citizen and make the results public and try to ease tensions with India.
As you can see from this one-year-old article by Omar Aziz, destroying relations with India for the sake of “vote bank” may cost Trudeau dearly, because many people in Canada are not like Trudeau. Think like that more.
