Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has gone rogue. He is now accusing India of orchestrating extra-judicial killings on Canadian soil. Has the Canadian leader, whose popularity and ratings are in the doldrums, provided any evidence to support his wild claims? Not really. One must read Trudeau’s frivolous statement carefully. He has talked about “allegations” about a “potential” link between Hardeep Nijjar’s death and “Indian agents”. What this means is that Canada has no substantial proof to definitively say that India was somehow involved in the death of Nijjar. By the way, India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist. So, for India, Nijjar was a Khalistani terrorist before being a Canadian citizen. That is all that matters.
On its part, it is time for India to downgrade its diplomatic relationship with Canada and demand an apology from Ottawa. Trudeau needs to be told how international diplomacy works, and that he cannot go around accusing countries of fictitious transnational crimes without concrete evidence. While India’s decision to expel a senior Canadian diplomat is appreciated, New Delhi needs to do a lot more. Remember, Canada is a country whose envoy has been summoned to the South Bloc more than Pakistan’s envoy this year. This goes on to show how under Trudeau, Canada has become a notorious hub of anti-India activities and extremism. India also needs to tell the world how Trudeau’s government has been giving a free pass to organised mafia and crime syndicates on Canadian soil, who, in turn, are perpetrating crimes on Indian soil.
But why did Justin Trudeau suddenly stand in his country’s parliament and accuse India of something he cannot immediately prove and probably will never be able to?
India’s Meteoric Rise Rattles Trudeau
You see, India’s global image and the world’s perception of our country is at historic highs. India has emerged as the leader of the Global South. It has just hosted the most constructive G20 summit ever. India’s economy is booming and is set to become the world’s third-largest in the next five years. Amid India’s rising popularity, Canada under Justin Trudeau is quite literally sinking.
Canada’s economy — much like Trudeau’s ratings — is in the doldrums. Canada’s economy is already in what is being called a “modest recession”. Trudeau’s second visit to India after 2018, to attend the G20 Summit, was a memorable disaster. If his first visit was an embarrassing failure, his latest stay in India was nothing short of humiliating. He was hardly the subject of any media coverage; was absent from the gala dinner organised by the President of Bharat and to top it all, was forced to stay back in New Delhi as his aircraft was found to be unfit for flying.
Even during his additional stay, Trudeau was not entertained by any official of the Indian government. Trudeau was rightfully given the cold shoulder for his government’s patronage of anti-India, Khalistani elements on Canadian soil. There was no bilateral meeting between Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Instead, all that Trudeau got was a brief “pull-aside” discussion in which he was pulled up by the Indian prime minister.
Justin Trudeau is visibly paranoid. He has invested a lot in his image of being a leader who can stand up to the most powerful nations if they err on international law and human rights. Take China for example. What Trudeau does not seem to grasp is that India is no China. India is a country that is championing the cause of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’. It is the world’s biggest democracy and also the nation that practised the most ancient forms of citizen-driven governance.
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Today, the West — particularly the G7 nations — see India as indispensable in the fight against China. The rise of India as a power to reckon with is a sentiment that is shared in all Western capitals and their power corridors. The world and a host of international agencies are bullish on India’s rise. Perhaps this is what burns Trudeau’s heart. At a time when India is rising, Canada — under Trudeau’s inept leadership — is seeing its growth not just getting scuttled, but decelerating.
Trudeau In Deep Domestic Trouble
Trudeau’s wild allegations against India are a mere diversionary tactic. The Canadian prime minister, who was once the blue-eyed boy of a rather global liberal ecosystem, is today failing miserably in domestic polls. His ratings are dangerously low. Half of the Canadians want a new government while only 19 per cent favour Trudeau. Meanwhile, housing prices are soaring and Trudeau faces the prospect of an inquiry into how his government handled alleged Chinese government interference in the last election.
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So, Trudeau is in deep political trouble. He needs the Khalistanis to vote for him en masse. Jagmeet Singh’s NDP could make significant cuts into Trudeau’s “immigrant” voter base, and the popularity of conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is rising too. He is a comparatively serious politician who talks about real issues, unlike the Woke agenda that Trudeau has made the crux of his governance. Interestingly though, the likes of Poilievre seem to be supporting Trudeau in baselessly attacking India.
What this proves is that Trudeau and his Khalistani friends have been successful in mainstreaming disdain for India in Canada. Also, the immigrant Sikh vote bank in Canada is quite significant, and it is a bloc which no party — liberal or conservative — wants to alienate. Standing up to India and projecting his supposed muscle against PM Modi seems to be the last straw for Trudeau. It is a desperate attempt at projecting power and diplomatic might. What Trudeau does not realise is that he has irreparably damaged India-Canada ties for a very long time. Until Trudeau is in power, there is no scope of recovery in bilateral relations that have hit a historic low after the Canadian leader’s misadventure.
Justin Trudeau wants to craft an image not just in Canada, but across the Western hemisphere, of being a man who stands up for human rights and the upkeep on international law. This is why he chose to “brief” US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France’s Emmanuel Macron about the alleged “Indian link” in the death of Hardeep Nijjar. Again, Canada has no real evidence to prove India’s involvement, and yet, Trudeau is calling Western leaders and seeking their attention on a subject that India has outrightly denied as “motivated and absurd”.
Justin Trudeau thinks he can do to India and PM Modi what the West did to Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Little does Trudeau know that while Khashoggi was a journalist, Nijjar was a man designated as a terrorist by India and who had an Interpol red-corner notice against his name. While Trudeau might think he is making a lot of constructive noise among India’s allies in the West, the fact is that the world knows that under him, Canada has become a power that is in decline. If the choice is between India and Canada, Trudeau might be surprised to see just how overwhelmingly the world chooses India.
