Trudeau’s Indian visit and Indo Canadian relations!

The recent visit of the Canadian Prime minister Tradeau and his family to India on gracious invitation, of course had been marred by several controversies. Though, the Trudeaus’ have been given an impression of having been given full veneration and protocol wise respect during their seven days visit in the country but the newspapers and electronic channels were full of news of the Canadian PM and his family having been snubbed occassionally.

The relations between Canada and India are undoubtedly smooth except for the fact that there had definitely been few silent differences on the formers support to the Khalistan extremists and there sponserors living and active in Canada. The sikhs in Canada form a sizeable number of voters who play a vital role in Canada’s politics. Its usually said and assumed that 50% of the population there comprises of the Indian Sikhs who play a mojor role in deciding the fate of the polity of Canada. It’s therefore believed that the Canadian government is soft towards even the hardcore Khalistani Sikhs who are considered to be India’s enemy. But the question is would the problem be resolved if the Canadian PM and is family is snubbed and the Canadians given an impression that their PM and his family has not been accorded that protocol wise treatment as other prime ministers of foreign land were accorded in India.

In an article in HT on February 25 the veteran journalist and eminent coloumnist Karan Thaper writes that when the Canadian PM arrived at the Palam Airport it hardly matters that the Indian Prime minister wasn’t there to receive him but even a full fledged union cabinet minister was not made available to receive the PM Tradeau and his family and a junior state level, quite an unknown minister of state was send sending a wrong message globally. The usual enthusiastic tweets to welcome foreign Prime ministers and presidents were missing this time. What made things even more worse and sent wrong messages across is the fact that when Trudeau and his family visited Agra and Gujarat the chief ministers of both the states din’t had time to meet him whereas in the case of the Israel prime minister Benjamin Yetanyahu’s visit both the chief ministers were there with full team of powerful ministers and bureaucrats. If we go back and peep into the past, prime minister Modi himself gave full time to the Japanese and Chinese head of the states in Gujarat and ensured that there is not the minutest of the lapse in there hospitality.

Moreover, the union minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj too was conspicuous by her absense during the visit of the Trudeaus who also could not take out the time to welcome the Canadian PM at the Palam international airport. The point is why was such a lapse ? Was it a deliberate attempt or just a casual mistake. The moot point is even if the Canadian PM and his family, who despite all these protocol failures were happy to enjoy their visits to New Delhi, Gujarat, Agra and Mumbai, was it really in the fitness of the things to give the newspaper and electronic channels of the country an opportunity to raise and point the lapses, thus making mockery of our hospitability and protocol lapses. Is it not true that Canada is housing millions of Indians and giving them jobs, comfortably with full social and economic security than the Americans, who day in and day out threaten NRIs and Indians working there with job loss threatenings and strict regulations of HI B Visa policy going against the Indians and India companies functioning there since long.

The point in question is the recent pronouncements of the US president Donald Trump threatening to squeez the US policy on HIB Visas asking Indian Companies to limit their job contracts etc. Moreover, if Canada is not suiting or serving out diplomatic foreign policy interests there are several other ways to directly bringing our teserbations into their knowledge and lodge protests at diplomptic level than given newspapers and TV channels an opportunity to raise a hue and cry. What’s your take friends?
SUNIL NEGI