Trudeau is indulging loony desis Swapan Dasgupta
From all accounts, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s attempt to blend a family vacation with sharp politics and some casual diplomacy was only a limited success. Trudeau was certainly extremely successful in getting his happy family photographs across both Canada and India. Indians weren’t terribly impressed by his bling apparel that was more suited for the groom in a Monsoon Wedding than a serious politician intent on a bout of international diplomacy. But Trudeau didn’t come to India to impress those Indians that get offended when Prime Minister Narendra Modi dresses in a bespoke suit or Rahul Gandhi brings out his ‘borrowed’ Burberry coat in Meghalaya. He came to India to wow a major chunk of the million strong Indo-Canadian community that today make up four per cent of Canada’s population. He did just that.
Trudeau’s liberal grandstanding is often galling. During the Syrian refugee crisis, he made great play of welcoming a clutch of middle-class Syrians refugees. This tokenism in a country where humans are permanently in short supply gained him a lot of brownie points from a generation of Canadians who don’t want the world to think of Canada as a boring, White preserve. Of course, it is a different matter that this showmanship intensified the pressure on a country such as Germany-with its inherited burden of permanent guilt-to allow as much as a million refugees into its borders. Trudeau emerged as the great liberal icon of North America, and Germany bore the consequences of the resentment of its own citizens.
Cultivating his own image and swelling his own vote bank has been a feature of Trudeau — a man who the starry-eyed like to imagine is a 21st century John F Kennedy. For historical reasons, and Trudeau isn’t to blame for it, Canada has become a big citadel for India’s diaspora Khalistanis. In places such as Vancouver and Toronto, promoters of Khalistan have captured gurdwaras and other Sikh organisations. More important, they have entered the Liberal Party in droves and some of them are now members of state legislatures, Members of Parliament and even ministers.
This doesn’t matter. People who migrate to other countries have a right-and, indeed, should be encouraged-to integrate themselves into the public life of their adopted land. If more and more Sikhs are in Canadian public life, it is very good. The problem starts when they inject their inherited baggage from the ‘old country’ into the bloodstream of their adopted society. This is what has happened with the Pakistani community in Britain and a reason why the Labour Party is so susceptible to extremist positions on the Kashmir issue.
The experience isn’t unique. Till the mid-1980s, terrorism in Northern Ireland was largely bankrolled by the Irish community in the US. This was a community that had votes and social clout, and used it quite effectively to dabble in the politics of Ulster. Likewise, the Tamils from Sri Lanka in Europe and South-east Asia became the chief fund suppliers for the terrorist LTTE. Of course, they weren’t as successful in impacting the politics of their adopted countries and had their activities seriously curtailed after Colombo won the civil war.
Some of the Khalistanis in Canada are dangerous. The role of Canada-based separatists in blowing up an Air India flight over Ireland in 1984 should never be forgotten. It is a crying shame that some of the perpetrators of this mass murder still roam the streets of Canada as free men. It is also a scandal that some of those responsible for attacking Indian ministers and non-separatist Sikhs can effortlessly worm their way into Trudeau’s entourage and cock a snook at India by flaunting their Canadian passports.
The Trudeau government cannot feign bewilderment over India’s anger at the bid to export Canada’s Khalistani ecosystem into India. The Liberal Party encourages these loons because its activists love to believe that all Third World countries have serious human rights problems. They love to be condescending towards Indians, in the same way as human rights bodies such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are accustomed. Trudeau’s political ecosystem has given desi crazies in Canada the space to try and be relevant in India. Indo-Canadian relations weren’t overwhelmed by the shadow of Khalistan under the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper.
Frankly, it doesn’t matter if the Modi government indeed snubbed Trudeau or whether that was a media over-reaction. The point is that Modi was under no obligation to either receive Canada’s PM at Delhi airport or play tourist guide in Ahmedabad. That he reserved his tweet for the official leg of the visit says a lot about what the government really thought of Trudeau’s fancy dress ball. But at least the ‘snub’ stories hit the mark. Trudeau’s belated commitment to a ‘united India’ and his condemnation of terrorism at least ensured that India-Canada relations will outgrow Trudeau.
The joint statement that was issued after the Indian and Canadian Prime Ministers met has contained the damage that resulted from the over-indulgence of hardened Khalistanis in Canada’s political system. Both countries should now look ahead. Canada and India are two vibrant democracies and Canada is host to an energetic Indian diaspora. India also needs Canada in the sphere of energy cooperation. The two countries must also play a role in reforging the Commonwealth after the April summit in London.
However, the moral sanctimoniousness that marks Canada-understandable in the context of its desire to distinguish itself from its overpowering southern neighbour-can be very off putting. To have good relations and a vibrant economic partnership does not always involve sharing the same political values. It would be good if the Trudeau establishment recognised this.
Trudeau’s political ecosystem has given desi crazies in Canada the space to try and be relevant in India. To have good relations and a vibrant economic partnership does not always involve sharing the same political values. It would be good if the Trudeau establishment recognised this.