No Namo for Trudeau in Guj Centre rubbishes claims Canadian PM was snubbed
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi not accompanying Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to his home-state Gujarat, controversy has broken out, with the foreign media triggering speculation on whether Mr Trudeau was snubbed by the Modi Government.
While this speculation of a snub has been dismissed as baseless by Indian Government sources, the Khalistan issue was being seen to be casting a shadow on the visit. But in an interesting development on Monday evening that apparently sought to end the bitterness of the past two years with the Canadian government on this score, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced on Monday evening that he would receive the Canadian PM on Wednesday when Mr Trudeau goes to Amritsar.
The announcement ended the uncertainty over whether Mr Singh would receive Mr Trudeau in Punjab.
According to news agency reports from Chandigarh, Mr Singh has now directed the state administration to roll out the red carpet in Punjab for the visiting dignitary.
Interestingly, the Punjab CM had last year refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan during his visit to India, alleging that he had proKhalistani links.
Canada had then criticised the Punjab CM’s actions.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi not accompanying Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to his home-state Gujarat, controversy has broken out, with the foreign media triggering speculation on whether Mr Trudeau was snubbed by the Modi government.
According to news agency reports, in 2016, when Amarinder Singh was the Punjab Congress chief, he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Canadian Prime Minister, lodging a protest on being denied permission for interaction with Punjabi NRIs in Canada in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls. Singh had then called it a “gag order”.
In a tweet, the Punjab CM said, “Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I’m hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deeprooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.”
With Pro-Khalistan separatist elements commanding considerable influence in Canada, there are indications that Trudeau’s government has been reluctant to intervene on the reported “ban” imposed by such elements on Indian officials entering certain Gurudwaras in Canada. India is apparently unhappy and wants to see more action from Canada to check the activities of Sikh radical elements there.
Trudeau will meet PM Modi on Friday for detailed delegation-level talks during which India is expected to strongly press for action by Canadian authorities to curb the activities of proKhalistan Sikh radical elements there that are targeted at India.
Shriromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to welcome the Canadian Prime Minister at the Golden Temple.
As reported by this newspaper on Monday, Modi was not scheduled to accompany the Canadian PM to Gujarat in contrast with the earlier visits to Gujarat of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe last year and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last month when PM Modi had accompanied them on their visits.
Sources had pointed out that it was not mandatory for PM Modi to accompany every foreign dignitary to Gujarat. But this has nevertheless raised eyebrows.