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Make up your mind, Mr Justin Trudeau
Now with some 41 Canadian diplomats shown the door unceremoniously from New Delhi, Trudeau wants to sort out issues with India privately.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau / Image: JustinTrudeau/X
Nearly three weeks after plunging India-Canada relations to new lows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now is of the view that Ottawa-New Delhi row should be sorted out in “private”.
Obviously Trudeau forgets that it was he, with a view to climb out of dismal opinion ratings in his country, went on his holier-than-thou rant in public about “alleged” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani activist labelled a terrorist by India.
Now with some 41 Canadian diplomats shown the door unceremoniously from New Delhi, Trudeau wants to sort out issues with India privately.
Just why India allowed three dozen odd extra Canadian diplomats into the country is something to be asked of Official India. But this is a story for comment another day.
Right now it is on the antics of a Canadian leader who has shown to his own people and to others the extent to which politics and political gaming can stoop to. And especially so in some western countries that seem to be above all things dirty and ones reserved for others condemned to stay that way.
In coming running to India to sort things out quietly and privately, Trudeau has once again forgotten, and conveniently so, who is to blame for the mess.
In the same fashion he so arrogantly spoke in Parliament accusing India of something grave without even a shred to evidence to back his claim, Trudeau would do well to use the same forum to tell his constituents and people what the truth really is, what is the evidence on hand and the extent to which investigations have really gone with agencies, provincial and federal.
Looking for bail outs from alliance partners or for help from the southern neighbor is not going to come all that easily, if the last few days are anything to by.
Prime Minister Trudeau can also use the opportunity to see the problem in a better perspective. For starts he should understand that India is not asking Canada to give a go-by to principles of free speech and expression.
Rather New Delhi is only asking for elementary norms of inter-state relations: that a small group of extremists should not be allowed to go berserk and indulge in violence against diplomats and property. If Premier Trudeau and those of his ilk are unable or unwilling to rein in thugs and normal life disruptors, then bilateral relations can be expected to slide further. Who is to blame and who gets hurt more will turn out to be a vain exercise.
The Biden administration led by the President should have counseled Prime Minister Trudeau a long time back starting with the American definition of a terrorist dating back to the days of President George W Bush.
Washington should also by now have taken serious note on what is happening on their borders—it is not just a case of hardened criminals involved in narcotics and human trafficking but in a real possibility of seasoned and well trained terrorists from a well- known epi-center of terrorism definitely looking for much more than a change of scenery.
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