JAGMEET’S INDIA CONNECT

The achievement of Jagmeet Singh in seizing the leadership of the New Democratic Party in Canada may be the latest highlight in the journey of those of Indian origin residing in the country, but it’s unlikely to attract too much celebration in New Delhi.

Jagmeet Singh actually entered politics after opposing a visit by then Indian Cabinet Minister Kamal Nath to Canada. He also endeared himself to hardliners by sponsoring a motion in the Ontario Assembly in 2016 to term the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as “genocide”. While that was defeated, he attacked the Indian government while supporting a similar motion this year, brought by an MP of the ruling Liberal Party of Ontario, Harinder Malhi, who is coincidentally Gurbax Malhi’s daughter. The young NDP leader also has the dubious distinction of being possibly the only elected representative from a Western nation to have been denied a visa to travel to India, when the Consulate in Toronto did just that in December 2013.

During the leadership campaign, he also accused India, through its representatives in Canada, of trying to sabotage the race by placing pressure upon community members to refrain from supporting him. Now, as leader of the NDP, his pet projects may well find resonance in Canada’s House of Commons, as he is now in charge of directing issues brought by the NDP’s caucus in that legislature.