New Delhi: Taking aim at the Trudeau administration in Canada, former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh said Monday a “government that patronises a terrorist or a separatist movement for political gain, is irresponsible and to a point criminal”.
“One ambitious man shouldn’t be able to rock a stable friendship that has existed for decades,” he wrote in a statement posted on ‘X’, in a direct attack on Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in light of his allegations against India.
“Punjab and India as a whole could then look towards a bright and stable future,” Singh wrote, referring to opinion polls hinting that Trudeau may be on his way out, on a day when reports emerged of an attack on a Hindu temple in Canada’s Brampton by Sikh separatists.
Singh added, “It is not often that countries, friends for decades, should end up as have Canada and India today. The assassination of a person of extreme separatist views, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, led to the prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau pointing his finger, in a parliamentary statement, towards India as being responsible for this act.”
My statement on the current Indo-Canadian situation. pic.twitter.com/MyTlXxmZnn
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) November 4, 2024
This is not the first time Captain Amarinder Singh lashed out at Trudeau.
A few days back, Singh hit out at the Canadian PM for “ruining” India-Canada ties, suggesting that he is only interested in getting the votes of Sikhs in Canada.
“He (Trudeau) later stated that he didn’t have concrete evidence, but that fingers pointed in that direction. This itself is a violation of the sanctity of parliament where a prime ministerial statement is taken as the truth and nothing but the truth,” wrote Singh Monday.
Adding, “Are electoral compulsions more important than decades-old relationships, national commitments and age-old parliamentary traditions? For Trudeau, it seems so.”
Singh recounted how when he was CM of Punjab, “I was aware of Canada’s approach to Sikh extremism being prevalent in that country, which was fast growing to which Trudeau not only turned a blind eye, but also patronised such people to enhance his political base.”
“He (Trudeau) sent his defence minister, a Sikh, to Punjab, I refused to meet him, as he himself was an active member of the World Sikh Organization, at that time the parent body of the Khalistani movement, which was then presided over by none other than his father.”
Singh also said Trudeau refused to meet him when he visited Punjab a few months later “till he was told in no uncertain terms” by then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj that he could not visit the state if he did not meet the chief minister.
Singh in his statement also pointed out that he met Trudeau in Amritsar who was accompanied by then Canadian defence minister Sajjan.
“I presume an attempt to get one up on me! I told him in no uncertain terms of Punjab’s problems with Canada. It had become a haven of the Khalistani separatist movement, which no Punjabi wanted, and also of gun-running, drugs and gangsters. I handed him a list of over twenty leading individuals who were actively involved in this movement, some were also members of his cabinet, one of whom was sitting beside him.”
Singh, then with the Congress and now with BJP, said Trudeau had promised to look into the grievances but “since our meeting, these nefarious activities have grown”.
“The Kanishka bombing is now out of his mind and so are the other acts that continue to destabilise Punjab,” he wrote.
In 2016, Singh had cancelled his scheduled seven-day trip to Canada due to the possibility of facing a case relating to torture in a court in Toronto.
Singh also hit out at the Canadian PM for accusing National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“To turn the spotlight away from himself, his (Trudeau’s) severing of diplomatic ties by initially accusing our security agencies of engineering Nijjar’s assassination, then naming officers who he claims were responsible. He then comes to accuse our National Security Adviser and finally, he now points his finger at India’s Minister of Home Affairs Mr Amit Shah.”
Singh added, “There is a strong perception that Trudeau is using Punjabis to sustain his government, without realising the decline in his affinity with them in his own country and even in India.” The former chief minister also highlighted how “our economy continues to stagnate as industry always enters when it visualises peace and stability”.
Singh emphasised ‘better relations’ with Canada and said “time” is a healer.
Adding, “In Trudeau’s case time will tell next year when he goes to the polls. From what one hears his luck has run out and these are his last few months.”
Stable friendship. That is what both sides should work sincerely to restore.