As a veteran politician, I can say that Khalistan was never raised as an issue by any of the Prime Ministers that I have worked with in India.
I have been on many trips to India, both as minister and with prime ministers on a number of occasions.
I’ve had the opportunity of meeting many prime ministers — Manmohan Singh was, of course, a good friend — I.K. Gujral, and Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. So, I was involved on a number of trade missions, including one that I organised, and two with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. So bilateral exchanges have been ongoing and strong.
So far, during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tour, it’s unfortunate that all that the press has focussed on is this whole issue of Khalistan. It is really not a major issue. I hope that they can now put back on track the trade issues that are more important to focus on.
As a veteran politician, I can say that Khalistan was never raised as an issue by any of the Prime Ministers that I have worked with in India — Singh or Gujral. I think they should focus on the trade issue instead, and other things that can benefit both India and Canada.
This whole Khalistan issue has no merit and has been blown up by the media from the very beginning of this trip. The focus should have been on bilateral trade instead.
One of the areas that we can really strengthen our relationship in is energy security, which is very important for India. As you know, more than 80 per cent of oil in India is imported, and the demand will continue to grow. This is the area that should be explored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Trudeau. Canada is a major producer of oil and gas, and so here lies an opportunity that can be mutually beneficial to both. Hopefully, we can try and finalise some agreement on this. Renewable energy is another area.
And, of course, Canada is a big exporter of lentils and we hope we can resolve the duties that have been recently administered to yellow peas.
There is tremendous opportunity here between the two countries; we just have to continue to have a structured relationship where ministers meet on a regular basis.
I hope Modi and Trudeau will discuss a film co-production treaty as well. The agreement has been pending since I was minister, and we’ve been unable to resolve it. Hopefully, they can move that forward. There was also a discussion on a free trade agreement at one time, but I don’t hear much on that anymore. This is something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pushed and there was a lot of talk, but nothing happened.
Like every trip, in the end, the government can only open doors, and it’ll be up to the business communities to advance in certain areas. I hope that some of the incomplete conversations and files that have remained pending will be discussed in the meeting.
Herb Dhaliwal was Canada’s first cabinet minister of Indian origin.
(Nandita Singh, journalist at ThePrint, spoke to Herb Dhaliwal)