Mystery exit of Navdeep Bains, who Amarinder called ‘Khalistani’, from Trudeau cabinet

Bains, 43, is an MP in Canadian House of Commons who has won five of the six general elections he has contested since 2004. He was born in Canada to Sikh immigrants from India.

File image of Canadian MP Navdeep Singh Bains with PM Justin Trudeau | Twitter | @NavdeepSBains

New Delhi: The Justin Trudeau administration in Canada has effected a small cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Navdeep Bains, a young Sikh leader, as Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry earlier this month. He had held the portfolio since 2015, when Trudeau first came to office.

Bains, 43, is an MP in the Canadian House of Commons who has won five of the six general elections he has contested since 2004. He was born in Canada to Sikh immigrant parents from India. 

Bains courted headlines in India a few years ago when Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh accused him and other Sikh Canadian leaders of being Khalistani sympathisers. He has also been vocal about police use of water cannons on farmers protesting against the three Modi government farm laws, saying in a tweet dated November 2020 that the rights of the protesters should be respected.

I’ve heard from many of my constituents in Mississauga-Malton, expressing their concerns about the safety of their family and friends in the #FarmersProtest in India.

Peaceful protests are fundamental in any democracy, and I urge for the rights of the protestors to be respected. pic.twitter.com/zUt1qDB5fU

— Navdeep Bains (@NavdeepSBains) November 28, 2020

In a video posted on Twitter, Bains said his decision to “not run again” and “step away as a cabinet minister” is aimed at spending more time with his family. Father to two daughters, he said “family is the most important thing” in his life.

My statement on my decision not to run in the next election and leaving cabinet:

Ma déclaration sur ma décision de ne pas me présenter aux prochaines élections et de me retirer du Conseil des ministres : pic.twitter.com/c5OKDgXmfE

— Navdeep Bains (@NavdeepSBains) January 12, 2021

“Over the last 17 years my family has sacrificed so much … It’s time for me to put my family first and I couldn’t be happier about it,” he added.

However, the sudden resignation of a leader known to be fairly powerful has stoked speculation in the Canadian media, with some outlets highlighting the controversies he has courted — and denied — but not identifying any explicit immediate trigger.     

Controversies in his career

In 2018, Bains and fellow Sikh Canadian MP Raj Grewal, a former member of Parliament, reportedly came under the lens in a controversial transaction involving the sale of a plot of government land to businessmen that was “flipped back” to the city of Brampton at an additional cost of $1 million. Bains has denied the allegations.

His name also cropped up in connection with a Canadian gurdwara that allegedly sponsored the visa of three priests who “disappeared” upon arrival in Canada — in an alleged instance of immigration fraud — but Bains has denied any role in this affair too, as has the management of the gurdwara in question. 

In 2007, Bains sought an apology from Stephen Harper after the then prime minister sought to link Liberal opposition to a planned Conservative extension for an anti-terrorism legislation, to allegations that the MP’s father-in-law had been named as a witness in the investigation against the 1985 Kanishka bombing.

The bombing of the Air India Montreal-London-Mumbai flight by Khalistani terrorists killed 329 people as the plane exploded in air.   

In March 2018, he and Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan were part of the Trudeau entourage during the Canadian PM’s visit to India. Days before the visit, Punjab CM Amarinder had refused to meet the two, saying the Sikh ministers in Trudeau’s cabinet have an “anti-national” agenda and he could not meet them because he did not want them to “create trouble” in Punjab.

“We have suffered enough. They are still running a campaign on social media. I get to see so much on Facebook. They have something called TV-1984, a name taken from riots,” the Punjab CM had said.

In 2017, Amarinder had named Bains and several other Canadian Sikh leaders as being “well known for their leanings towards the Khalistani movement”.

Speaking to ThePrint, G.B.S. Sidhu, a former RAW officer and author of ‘The Khalistan Conspiracy’, said “the Khalistani elements in Canada have hardly any popular support amongst the Sikhs of Canada and the US”. 

“The minuscule minority amongst the Sikhs from these countries, with the support of Pakistan’s ISI, has built political clout far beyond their numbers. This clout has been cleverly used by this coterie to compel their leaders to take certain actions, which under the normal circumstances they would not have taken,” he added.

“The best way for the concerned India authorities is to deal with the so-called pro-Khalistan elements with the contempt that they deserve. Ignore them. Meanwhile, take such actions in India which could assuage the hurt feelings of the Sikhs resulting from the large scale of killing of the Sikhs during the Operation Blue Star and anti-Sikh pogrom of November 1984.”