Backdrop of the Indo-Canadian relationship
India and Canada have had a long relationship. The number of Indians, primarily among them Sikhs who have migrated to Canada is immense. Furthermore, hundreds (if not thousands) of Indian students opt to study in Canadian universities annually. Historically, even the 2 sovereign countries have had decent trade relationships with each other, one example of which is that Canada, being a large grower of pulses, once had India as one of its biggest customers. Not anymore though.
However, in the recent past, things that were in the making for decades have finally come to a head. And while 2018 & 2021 made things worse, 2023 & 2024 have completely blown up the Indo-Canadian diplomatic relationship.
Here’s a short story about how Justin Trudeau’s ugly vote bank politics and pandering to extremists has put him alongside Pakistan as a terror supporter.
20th century & Migration
The Indian Canadian community began to form around the late 19th century – early 20th century, pioneered by men, the great majority of whom were Punjabi Sikhs – primarily from farming backgrounds – with some Punjabi Hindus and Punjabi Muslims, and many of whom were veterans of the British Army. Decades of small waves of migrants continued till 1961, when the total number of Indians in Canada was estimated to be approx 6500.
Then over the next 3 decades, that number jumped enormously to reach over 400k by 1991. Many of these were genuine economic migrants, out to seek a new land of opportunities, but many of them were also asylum seekers who had run away from India to escape government crackdowns against Sikh separatism or the excesses of government overreach in the fight against unrest in Punjab (and there were many excesses, not to mention the Sikh genocide of 1984). That said, there were also many who were just criminals who found seeking asylum to be a good fig leaf under which to hide their criminal antecedents and hence migrate to ‘Kannedda‘. There are several articles, stories, anecdotes about how both Canada (& Germany) accepted these ‘asylum seekers’ with no review, no evaluation and did not bother to check with the Indian diplomatic missions whether they were in-fact genuine. In my opinion it was on account of the ‘white man’s burden’ syndrome. Where the ‘white west’ believed that they & their society and way of life was superior to the ‘coloured east & south’, so if someone was running away from there to ‘the west’, it was natural & expected and of course the Indian diplomatic missions should not be consulted to check someone’s potential criminality…
Anyway, it is some among these migrants who landed up between 1961 and 1980, who brought the seeds of Khalistan / Sikh separatism with them to Canada. While their numbers were small & economic cloud limited, they kept quiet about it as they had no financial and political muscle, but by the mid 1980s, that had started to change. So much so, that on June 23, 1985 they carried out the worst terrorist attack to date that Canada has ever witnessed – the Air India ‘Kanishka’ bombing which killed 329+ people, most of them being Canadian citizens. The bombing was the handiwork of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a Khalistani terrorist outfit and the mastermind was Talwinder Singh Parmar.
The ‘Kanishka bombing’ is the worst act of terror in Canada’s history. Yet only one man – Inderjit Singh Reyat – was convicted and that too decades after the bombing. He too has since been released after he served his sentence and is currently free. The mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar was never convicted (he was finally killed in 1992 by Punjab Police when he returned to India).
So here Canada had a situation where a handful of radical Sikhs were able to generate Sikh vote banks, on the backs of regular hardworking non-radical sikhs, through their gurudwaras & jathedars. From among them emerged several politicians, the primary troublemaker among them being Jagmeet Singh – who is currently the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Canada. Set up in 1961 as a combination of organised labour & the political left, the NDP was a proper lefty party for a long time, until it was hijacked by the radical sikhs about 2 decades or so ago.
2015 – Trudeau comes to power
So, in 2015, Justin Trudeau & Canada’s Liberal Party came to power after 12 yrs of Conservative rule, with a decent sized majority winning 184 seats in a house of 338 . I remember the global euphoria about the “good-looking young liberal who had defeated the bad-old conservatives” in Canada. I must admit that even I was hoping for good things from him, even though I didn’t really really hear any gravitas from him. Also, upon close scrutiny, one sees that Mr Trudeau had had no major display of professional excellence before he became the Liberal Party’s leader.
2017 – the Khalistani-closeness starts
Then, just a couple of yrs into his governance, for reasons best known to him, there were signs of some rather strange ties between his Liberal Party and Khalistani separatists & extremists. One may have passed it off as domestic political pandering but this was more than that. It was active encouragement.
When India objected, the Canadian response was that these activities fell within Canada’s ‘freedom of speech’ principles. 🙄
Link – https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/justin-trudeau-canadian-pm-pm-modi-khalistan-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-g20-summit-hamburg-1023292-2017-07-09
2018 – JT’s DISASTROUS trip to India
This pandering to radical Khalistani separatists has caused a lot of trouble for him over the years, especially during his visit to India in 2018, when he was publicly rebuked by then Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh who called out the then Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan (who was part of Trudeau’s delegation) for being a Khalistani sympathiser (which he was).
Trudeau was also delivered a polite diplomatic version of an insult by PM Modi who did not come to receive him at the airport, met him just once during his visit and engaged in none of the usual fanfare & bonhomie which PM Modi has indulged in with various other heads of state.
Even the meeting between PM Modi & PM Trudeau had to be kept in abeyance and was agreed to, only after PM Trudeau met Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh and accepted a dossier from Capt. of a list of the most-wanted Khalistani terrorists living in Canada which he asked to be handed over to India.
Link – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/amarinders-terror-list-to-trudeau-details-of-5-deadly-handlers/articleshow/63059588.cms
Of course, none of them have been handed over since. 😡
On top of all this, the Canadians made things worse, when they invited Jaspal Atwal, a member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation, who was convicted for attempted murder for trying to kill Punjab Cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver in 1986, to an official event hosted by PM Trudeau during the India trip. The pictures of Sophie Trudeau & Atwal together, which appeared in the media, painted a horrible picture and made things worse.
Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jaspal-atwal-invite-dinner-sophie-1.4545881
This trip was probably the worst that Indo-Canadian relationship could get. And I’m not even talking about all the jokes & memes that were made of the outfits Trudeau wore during his visit, which were, at best, comical.
Here are some media links about that disaster of a trip:
– https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/khalistan-becomes-an-issue-between-india-and-canada/article22799232.ece
– https://www.wionews.com/india-news/why-justin-trudeaus-trip-to-india-in-2018-turned-out-to-be-a-diplomatic-fiasco-346771
– https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/02/22/trudeaus-india-trip-is-a-total-disaster-and-he-has-himself-to-blame/
– https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/why-justin-trudeaus-india-tour-turned-out-to-be-a-diplomatic-disaster/articleshow/63059621.cms
2019 – Electoral problems for JT, his love for Khalistanis increases to a point where it becomes official state policy
Then, in the 2019 Canadian elections, The Liberal Party dropped to 157 seats, becoming a minority government, supported by the NDP (yes, the same NDP with Jagmeet Singh as its leader)
Now, calling the NDP the overground political arm of the Khalistani separatists won’t be a stretch. Their leader Jagmeet Singh has, more than once, openly voiced his support for Khalistani separatists in Canada and has even attended their rallies.
Links
– https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2019/oct/20/why-india-wont-be-rooting-for-jagmeet-singh-becoming-the-next-canada-pm-2050109.html
– https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jagmeet-singh-sikh-independence-rally-1.4575762
– https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-see-jagmeet-singh-canada-khalistan-terrorists-instagram-rapper-pro-khalistan-indira-gandhi-1984-2594431
So the question that all Indians have is – since the NDP is an official part of the Canadian government, is support to the Khalistan separatist movement official state policy of the current Canadian government?
It is important to note that at no stage has Jagmeet Singh even disavowed the Khalistanis, forget opposing them. Infact, signs to the contrary began to appear where support for Khalistani separatism within Canada increased. Here are a couple of articles about Jagmeet being a fundraiser for the Khalistanis and how the NDP & ISI were seeding the Khalistani movement:
– https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/canadas-top-dem-leader-jagmeet-a-fundraiser-for-terror-outfits-intel/1648643
– https://zeenews.india.com/world/canada-becomes-a-seedbed-for-khalistanis-watered-by-canadian-government-nurtured-by-isi-2336203.html
2020 and JT’s HORRIBLE opportunism
So its 2020 now, and the Wuhan virus hits us all. The pandemic runs riot globally with all governments releasing millions of dollars in aid & payouts to its citizens to enable them to survive the economic downturn caused by the lockdowns.
So does Canada…
And therein emerges the political opportunism of PM Justin Trudeau👿. At a time when his country was haemorrhaging millions of dollars just to support its citizens, he was actually thinking about how to use this crisis of humanity to his political benefit. 😡
So, in an attempt to augment his political power and try to win back a majority, he calls for early snap elections, halfway through his current tenure (which would otherwise end in 2023). This election ended up costing Canada 610mn$ (Canada’s GDP in 2019 was 1.8tn$).
Can you imagine how horrible it is to spend an additional 610mn$ at a time when there is already so much money flowing out of your country’s coffers, just because you want more power than you already have??? Ugh!!!🤬
Anyway, all this was in vain. Nearly every single party won exactly the same number of seats as earlier, with a +/- of 2-4 seats over the 2019 elections.
And the conversation around this election has been rather critical…
Links:
– https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/20/americas/canada-election-results-trudeau-o-toole-intl/index.html
– https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-election-2021/early-election-gamble-backfires-here-s-a-look-at-some-international-headlines-day-after-canada-election-1.5594167
– https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/world/canada/election-results.html
– https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/waste-money-canadians-lament-c612-million-election-that-changed-little-2021-09-21/
Honestly, so much money being spent for so little change, is possibly second only to what the US have spent in Afghanistan. 🤷🏻♂️
Not only was it a waste of money, but it emboldened the NDP further, on account of them getting almost the same number of seats as earlier. The Trudeau govt continued in a minority government, supported by the NDP, except Trudeau’s govt was now even more beholden to the NDP, whose leader supports terrorists.
2023 & The Tableau celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination in Brampton.
So in 2023 there was a tableau reenacting & celebrating Indira Gandhi’s assassination which was part of a parade in Brampton.
Celebrating the killing of former Prime Minister of India is not ‘freedom of expression’ as claimed by Canada. It is celebrating an act of terrorism – a hate-crime by all norms.
Q: What kind of a supposedly democratic country, in the 21st century, allows this?
Answer: One whose government relies on Khalistani terrorist elements for their vote bank and is willing to aid & abet celebration of terrorists & terrorism.
2023 June/July and the despicable call to violence and the calling for the killing of Indian diplomats
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist, the chief of a pro-Khalistani outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia. on June 18, 2023. Nijjar was responsible for promoting the secessionist and terror agenda of the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – run ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) and calling for all kinds of ridiculous ‘referendums’ in Canada on Khalistan.
After Nijjar’s assassination, the following posters were released. and put up all over Toronto, calling for a rally on July 8th and also calling for the murder of / violence against Indian Diplomats.
This is clearly INSANE. That Trudeau’s government would sit back on this, do nothing and allow this call to violence by a bunch of terrorists is despicable.
India served a demarche on Canada against this. The Trudeau govt was asked by the Indian government to take strong measures to prevent protesters from congregating close to missions and consulates or desecrating the Indian national flag or throwing projectiles into the Indian diplomatic premises in Canada.
When asked about these posters, Trudeau said “We have an extremely diverse country and freedom of expression is something that we have. But, we will also make sure that we are pushing back against violence and extremism in all its forms.”
Here are a couple more images / videos of the nonsense going on in Canada in September 2023.
This is terrorism. Plain & simple. And Trudeau saying that this is ‘free speech’ is IMO being not only soft on terrorism but is active encouragement of terror.
2023 September and Trudeau’s nonsensical allegations about India
On 18 September 2023, Justin Trudeau, while addressing the House of Commons said that “Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty” while urging the Indian government to cooperate in the ongoing investigation. Trudeau stated that he had presented the accusations directly to Prime Minister Modi during the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs rejected Trudeau’s allegations in a statement saying that claims of India’s “involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated”. It added that similar accusations made earlier by Trudeau to Prime Minister Modi had been “completely rejected”. The statement further said that “Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. India urged Canada “to take prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil”. It said that Canada’s inaction has been “a long-standing and continuing concern”.
September-October 2023 – The diplomatic row escalates…
On 18 September 2023, Canadian foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly announced that Canada had expelled Pavan Rai, a “senior Indian diplomat” for “foreign interference”. She further said that India’s involvement if proven true would be “a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other”.
On 19 September 2023, India expelled a top diplomat of Canada with five days’ notice to leave the country amid “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats” in India’s “internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”.
On 20 September 2023, India issued a travel advisory to its citizens on travelling to Canada, warning them about “growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in Canada.
On 21 September 2023, Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi announced that India has suspended “temporarily the issuance of visas or providing visa services” for all Canadian nationals in all categories, including e-visas and for Canadian citizens applying from third countries, due to “security threats” against its diplomats.
On 24th September, the Indian government instructed its investigative agencies to identify all Khalistanis in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and cancel their Overseas Citizenship of India card to prevent them from entering India, in addition to confiscating their assets in India.
In early October, India asked Canada to withdraw 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country and threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of diplomats who would remain after a certain date. India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement stating that “Their continued interference in our internal affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa”. On 18 October 2023, 41 Canadian diplomats along with 42 of their family members left India. The Canadian foreign ministry said that Canada will temporarily close three consulates in India and concentrate services at its high commission in Delhi, with only 21 diplomats remaining in India. Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller said that the situation would cause delays in the immigration applications and processing of visas for people in India.
As of September 2024, Canada has not provided any evidence linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s death. However, there is media reporting that some of the intelligence provided to Canada linking India to Nijjar’s death came from US intelligence agencies. On 22 September 2023, two days after the Canadian government accused Indian agencies of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Premier of British Columbia David Eby informed the media that the “intelligence briefing” received by him from the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was based on open-source, internet material and there was no explicit evidence that he had seen.
October 2024 and the “Persons of Interest” communication and the Indian response.
On 13th October 2024, India received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country.
After this nonsense, this is what our Ambassador to Canada was subjected to. His effigy being shot by a gun & burnt. By every application of the Brandenburg Principle (which governs what constitutes a valid threat) this is a criminal offence. But the Canadian Police are ignoring this.
The Indian government’s response to all of the above was appropriately harsh… as under…
I have never seen such language being used by India diplomatically for another country. Not even for Pakistan. Justin Trudeau has gotten the most populous country in the world to treat him & Canada in a category lower than a corrupt 3rd world tinpot dictatorship…
After this, the same day India has downgraded the diplomatic relationship with Canada & withdrawn its high commissioner.
After this, Canada expelled 6 Indian diplomats
And India has done the same…
In Conclusion
I don’t know what Canadians think about their PM’s behaviour towards India and his alliance with the NDP and I honestly don’t care but unless a clear stand is taken by the Trudeau government against the NDP, its leader & against Khalistan terrorists, the already-at-rock-bottom Indo-Canadian relations will only get WORSE, if that is at all possible.
It is tragic what has happened under Trudeau. By joining hands with terrorists he got himself into the PM’s office twice, but at what cost? Canada’s perception has taken a beating and its stature has fallen. Canadian liberals must think what aligning with terrorists is doing to their country. These Khalistani jokers will never succeed in India but they will destroy Canada and more-importantly, the current Canadian Prime Minister in trying to cowtow to terrorists who he thinks are his vote-bank, will destroy the Indo-Canadian relationship. Canada must do some deep introspection else they’re actively and rapidly heading straight into a giant disaster!!!
P.S.: Canada has been a safe haven for global terrorists for decades. Even the B’desh Army officer who assassinated Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been hiding in Canada for 25+ years.
P.P.S.
Here are 3 videos which deconstruct the stark hypocrisy of ‘good-boy’ Justin Trudeau.