Passage to India: PM plans to talk trade
Will not meet minister who has alleged complicity on Sikh separatism
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on his way to India, where he plans to spend the next week buttressing Canada’s cultural and economic ties with the burgeoning South Asian nation.
India is the world’s secondlargest country by population and one of the world’s fastestgrowing economies — one that’s expected to overtake Britain this year to become the fifthlargest in the world.
Meetings are scheduled with Indian CEOs and business leaders, with visits to some of India’s biggest tourist sites, including the Taj Mahal in Agra, Jama Mosque and Sabarmati Ashram, one of the former homes of Mahatma Gandhi.
Trudeau will not, however, be meeting the Indian politician who has publicly accused members of his cabinet of having links to the Sikh separatist movement.
Despite Indian media reports that Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is to be Trudeau’s tour guide at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office say no meeting is planned.
The Hindustan Times, the largest English-language daily newspaper in India, reported Singh was to accompany Trudeau to the temple and a nearby museum.
“We have nothing planned with him at this time,” said one Canadian official, speaking anonymously.
Last year, Singh refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, accusing him of supporting the pro-Khalistan movement, which advocates for an independent Sikh state. This month, Singh told Outlook India magazine that “there seems to be evidence that there are Khalistani sympathizers in Trudeau’s cabinet.”
Sajjan and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, two of the four Sikh members of Trudeau’s cabinet, pushed back hard against Singh’s claim, denying that they were part of the movement or that it was much of an issue at all in Canada’s Sikh communities.
Singh responded by saying he looked forward to having productive meetings with Trudeau on his trip. Canadian officials are giving no explanation for the decision not to meet him.
The issue is a cloud hanging over Trudeau’s first state visit to India. While Indian government sources insist he will be received warmly, they also note the government has set aside only part of one day for official bilateral meetings during the seven-day trip.
Trudeau is scheduled to meet Feb. 23 with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the presidential palace in Delhi.
Canada’s official line is that it supports a unified India and will not support any forms of extremism, but it also will not override the freedom of Indo-Canadians to speak out in favour of a separate Sikh state if they wish.
The federal government wants the trip to be about far more than the Sikh independence ties. With 1.3 million Canadians of Indian ancestry, the community is fast-growing and influential, both politically and economically in Canada. A successful trip would help Trudeau both at home and abroad.