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HomeOpinionEven before the India trip, it was obvious that Modi and liberal...

Even before the India trip, it was obvious that Modi and liberal Trudeau could never be friends

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Consider this: Trudeau has campaigned on minority and gender rights, talks openly about taxing the rich, and even speaks of his admiration of China. Modi, say no more.

Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi were never going to be the best of political buddies.

There’s more distance between them — generational, social, political — than lies between their two countries.

Consider this: Trudeau has campaigned on minority and gender rights, talks openly about taxing the rich and giving to the poor, and even speaks of his admiration of China. Modi, say no more.

Even on international trade, their attempts to restart Canada-India free trade talks have gone so slowly that one of Canada’s top diplomats recently referred to the negotiations as being “in a state of somnolence.”

Sleepy or not, the yawning gap between the two leaders just widened a lot.

As the world watched this week, Trudeau went from gimmick to gaffe, in a trip that had been delayed so long it had almost been forgotten. That’s now the least of its problems.

The Trudeau family’s extensive and colourful ethnic wardrobe —  ‘costumes’ to his critics — lit up social media around the world. But fashion choices tend to be forgotten; the trip’s association with Khalistanis may not be.

How bad is the blemish? Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Liberal cabinet minister and one-time premier of British Columbia, told the Toronto Star that the trip had taken a sinking relationship to “rock bottom.” From the outset, Trudeau’s trip was destined to be undermined by rushed planning and domestic politicking.

Even though the Canadian PM had wanted to visit India early in his mandate, the Indian government’s perception that his Liberals were soft on the Khalistan issue had led to delays and foiled plans. By the end of last year, Trudeau had been to China twice as Prime Minister, while Modi had been to Washington three times during the same period.

The Canadians realised that if they didn’t get to India this month, they might not make it at all in 2018, due to a crowded diplomatic calendar. Which would have taken the Liberals into a 2019 election year with a lot of explaining to do, especially to the 1.4 million Canadians— 4% of the population— of South Asian descent.    

Once declared, the trip had to be shoehorned between the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January, a hurried western American tour earlier this month to speak up for NAFTA and next week’s federal budget.

It then became a political bandwagon for every Liberal MP of South Asian heritage. If their photogenic leader was going to be anywhere near an Indian landmark, they had to be at his side.

So many backbenchers wanted to travel with the official delegation that they were finally told to make their own way. That included Randeep Sarai, an obscure MP from British Columbia who invited Jaspal Atwal, the convicted Khalistani terrorist, to a reception with Trudeau in New Delhi — an indiscretion that embarrassed the Canadians and enraged the Indians.

But all of this may matter little in 18 months when Canadians decide whether to re-elect Trudeau.

His Indian charm offensive was partly designed with that in mind, and to counter the appeal of Jagmeet Singh, the new leader of Canada’s left-wing party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), who is a determined force in the Sikh community. Singh has refused many times to denounce Khalistani advocates, or distance himself.

But Delhi officials suspect it’s not just the NDP leader who’s willing to play footsie with the separatists. The Liberals have been mealy-mouthed on the issue, if only because they don’t want to be seen to deny freedom of speech and association rights to Khalistanis while protecting it for Quebeckers.

Quebec is heading into a provincial election on 1 October, which inevitably will enflame separatist passions.

A year from now, Trudeau and Singh will be preparing to fight it out in 2019 for the Sikh vote. Canada’s smaller Gujarati population remains largely loyal to the Conservatives, whose former leader and prime minister, Stephen Harper, was in Delhi just weeks ago, where he was received warmly by Modi. But it’s the larger Sikh population in the suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver that may help determine Trudeau’s fate.

That’s one of the reasons Trudeau has focussed so much of his trip on ‘people-to-people’ ties, which means, among other things, immigration and international students. India is now Canada’s second-largest source on both counts, behind the Philippines in immigration and China in students.

No coincidence, then, Trudeau will wrap up his trip speaking to a large youth forum in Delhi, in part to pitch Canada as a place to study and live. Who knows, he may subtly encourage them to vote with their feet, leading them to one day perhaps vote for him with their hands.

John Stackhouse is former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, and from 1992-99 its New Delhi correspondent. 

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3 COMMENTS

  1. The Sikhs have no reason to agitate for Khalistan which will be short-lived before Pakistan invades them and butchers all of them.
    The Sikh are safe and well integrated in India, We even have had a Sikh Prime Minister, defence minister and Economics minister.

  2. Educated people in Indiaare not properly employed because ample opportunities are not opened up and this has resulted in financial impediments in our country. Unfortunately our government is trying to spread religious conscience rather than creating more employment opportunities and thus progress in all directions.

  3. Canada must stop encouraging the sikh separatists, you may allow them to speak in the name of freedom of speech, but when you attend their functions, you are endorsing their cause to split India in the name of religion.
    Sikhs have enjoyed a place of pride in this country, it is their country and they have shown it by rejecting the khalistan moment decisively even when supported by pakistan.
    Those have been painful memories and the nation and punjab has already moved on.
    What then is the canadian government doing? For its narrow electoral gains, will it pander to a group which seeks to dismember another vibrant democracy in the world?

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