No country has ever put a minority community of its citizenry in an embarrassing position like Canada has done to its Indian diaspora by taking its healthy bilateral ties with India to a near point of no return over terrorism.
In the last few weeks, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has embarked on a premeditated attack on India over the matter of last year’s killing of a Khalistani terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Trudeau publicly accused India of orchestrating the murder, though he failed to submit a shred of evidence.
He sought and secured the support of the United States which, despite strong ties with India and having accorded a state visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi only recently, backed Ottawa by asking New Delhi to probe the issue.
Trudeau was not satisfied. He subsequently accused India’s high commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and five other diplomats of their alleged role. His government called them “persons of interest”.
India, which showed restraint till then, was forced to take action at this strange action and recalled its diplomats. To blunt the diplomatic embarrassment the recall caused to Canada, it claimed it had asked the diplomats to leave India.
With no concern whatsoever about the crumbling bilateral relations with India, Trudeau’s government struck another low, attacking India’s Home Minister Amit Shah.
David Morrison, deputy foreign affairs minister of the Trudeau government, claimed he was the first to have leaked to the Washington Post, about the alleged role of Shah in ordering the alleged operation of the agents of the Indian government against the Khalistani Sikh extremists based in Canada.
The Post published the information. The Canadian government claimed Morrison’s leak was believed to be information about Shah’s alleged role.
The leak, as if on cue, brought the Biden administration into the picture. The United States said the allegations were “concerning”. Coincidentally, American NSA Jake Sullivan telephoned Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to apparently discuss ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation and other issues.
The US has been pressurizing India on an issue also related to a Khalistani terrorist. It alleges the role of an officer of the Indian government in a foiled plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States. An Indian probe team even went to Washington in connection with the probe.
It is now more or less clear that Trudeau is playing a survival game, using the Indian diaspora in his country as a pawn. His actions show he is willing to sacrifice the carefully built edifice of bilateral ties with India to this end.
His country faces a general election next year. His popularity ratings have been plummeting of late for his economic policies and other issues. So much so, he even lost the support of a diaspora Sikh group, the New Democratic Party led by a Khalistani supporter Jagmeet Singh.
That has brought the Trudeau government into a minority. It can fall if Trudeau fails to get any bill passed in parliament by a simple majority. Since then, coincidentally, he has started blaming India for trying to kill Khalistani leaders on Canadian soil.
Trudeau, by his standards, has tried to get support for his actions from all domestic political parties by hook or crook. His constant anti-India tirade over Khalistanis has rubbed off on even the opposition parties, including the Conservatives.
Politics have nose-dived to such a low that no political leader in Canada today wants to be seen criticising the Khalistanis.
There were reports before Diwali that Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s office cancelled the annual Diwali celebration by the Indo-Canadian community at Parliament Hill. Organised by the Overseas Friends of India Canada (OFIC), the event, which was set for October 30, has been a tradition for 23 years.
Shiv Bhasker, President of Overseas Friends of India Canada, expressed his disappointment, stating, “However, the sudden withdrawal of political leaders from this event, prompted by the current diplomatic situation between Canada and India, has left us feeling betrayed and unjustly singled out.”
Worried by the social media backlash over the cancellation, Poilievre’s office hurriedly came up with a lame explanation. The point is, that Trudeau’s objective was achieved.
He is now trying to emerge as the ‘saviour’ of Khalistanis from the alleged machinations of India. That is a dangerous thing to do.
It has the potential to make the Indian diaspora in Canada disconcerted. There are over 1.8 million Indian Canadians in that country, nearly five percent of the population. This is over and above close to a million Non-Resident Indians. They are highly productive in several key sectors which prop up the Canadian economy. They have a substantial presence in Canadian and provincial governments and administrations.
Trudeau’s actions can potentially make Khalistan a political issue within the diaspora. That is not healthy for the close relations between Indian communities in the country over time. And if the country’s government is the one driving the wedge, where will the affected go seeking justice?
No Indian immigrant population in any other country has faced this dilemma. Already voices are emerging from the diaspora seeking an end to the Trudeau-created stand-off.
A prominent Canadian businessman and politician Baljit Singh Bajwa told an Indian news agency exclusively that what was happening was “disheartening news”, adding that the turn of events happened due to “politically driven statements” given because of “someone’s personal ego or favouring a community”.
Indo-Canadian host Darshan Maharaja also told the same agency that it was “sorrowful news” that India and Canada’s relationship was going downhill. He wanted closure to the bitter experience.
In the coming months, as the Canadian general elections near, Trudeau’s politics over Khalistan can exacerbate and spread tensions, victimising the diaspora.
As it is, bilateral affairs have reached a boiling point. Even if there is a change of guard next year, it is not easy for Canada to suddenly withdraw from Trudeau’s position. India cannot be blamed for taking a long time to repose trust in its bilateral counterpart.
It is also to be seen to what extent the United States plans to back Canadian allegations against the Indian government. It is true that India’s relations with the US and Canada are on different planes, but the onus is on the Western nations not to allow relationships to flounder because of political expedience.