One of the world's finest looking leaders, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in India with his family on February 17, at sundown for an eight-day visit that includes several agendas. Accompanied by wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and children Xavier, 10, Ella-Grace, 9, and Hadrien, 3, the family was welcomed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi by Canada High Commissioner in India Nadir Patel and wife Jennifer Graham, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Vikas Swarup, and Indian Minister of State for agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who was the first to shake hands with the PM.
The visit is a mix of business meetings, round tables on education, women's rights and human rights, tours of popular Indian sites and a meeting with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. “Wheels up for India and a busy visit, focused on creating good jobs and strengthening the deep connection between the people of our two countries,” Trudeau wrote on his official Twitter account. Both countries will reaffirm close friendship and discuss ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation.
The family first visited the Taj Mahal, where Trudeau became nostalgic and Sophie, emotional. Trudeau said he had visited Taj in 1983, with his father who was Canada's then prime minister Pierre Trudeau. “For me to be able to be here on an official trip while bringing my kids with me to share this is really special and being able to enjoy this as a dad with my kids is really nice,” Trudeau said as he revisited the monumental place 35 years later on Saturday. Signing the Taj's visitors book, Trudeau said, “Thank you for the wonderful visit to one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
The family was accompanied by Bhuvan Vikram Singh, Superintendent Archaeologist, ASI, Braj Bhushan, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) commandant of the Taj Mahal,
Gaurav Dayal, District Magistrate, Agra and SSP, Amit Pathak, along with a Canadian delegation and the media. The visitors later went to a wildlife sanctuary in Farah, Mathura.
Trudeau and co. snubbed by India?
While several pointed out Narendra Modi's absence at the airport, a norm the leader has made normal during visit of any state leaders. MoS for Agriculture, Shekhawat's presence was significantly notable considering that Trudeau is asked to raise an issue with the Indian government on recent Indian import taxes applied to chickpeas and other pulse crops.
The Canadian PM's first official visit meanwhile, is not going as expected as he and his family are being largely ignored by senior members of the Indian government so far. Considering Modi's extravagant bear hugs and a treatment that is vied to be exceptionally personal, the fact that the Canadan delegation was welcomed by a junior minister is being interpreted as a snub. The host has also not met his counterpart yet, despite Trudeau being in the country for three days. Modi was also noticeably absent during Trudeau's visit to his hometown of Gujarat.
It was also reported that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not greet the Canadian PM when he visited the Taj Mahal. Columnist and economist Vivek Dehejia said, “Yes, this is a major snub. The fact that a junior minister was sent to receive Trudeau and his family is most definitely a snub.”
However, former diplomat Vishnu Prakash denied any sort of snubbing, saying that India had closely followed diplomatic protocol when receiving him. “According to protocol, it is a cabinet minister who receives a visiting foreign leader and this courtesy was extended to Trudeau,” he said. He added that even though Modi had “breached protocol” to personally greet foreign leaders, one cannot expect the Indian PM to greet every visitor that came to India. “It's not like the prime minister is not going to meet him at all. There is a ceremonial welcome that will be held for him on 23 February and he will meet him there.”
Khalistan issue rides high
Trudeau's support for the Khalistan movement has made it difficult for the Indian government to deal with the Canadian government. His attendance at Khalsa Day event in Toronto, where Khalistani flags and the portrait of former Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were displayed were taken very seriously.
Later, the Ontario Assembly's passed a resolution condemning the “genocide” of Sikhs in India in 1984. Canada's high Commissioner to India had to apologise when a former CRPF officer was initially denied entry at Vancouver airport on grounds that he had served a government that engaged in “terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide.” After elected to office in 2015, Trudeau inducted four Sikhs, including Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, who is accused of having links to radical elements demanding a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. Sajjan's visit to Punjab went by with not a single minister or even a senior officer of the state government welcoming him.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had even publicly refused to meet him, saying he “would not meet any Khalistani sympathisers”. Before Singh was elected CM, he had issued an angry letter to protest the Canadian government's denial of permission for his interactive meetings with Punjabis in Toronto and Vancouver. The Canadian government had officially raised objections to Singh's visit through the Ministry of External Affairs. After objections from Sikh hardliners, Singh had later protested the government “gag order” on him.
Singh has, however, let bygones be bygone, and agreed to meet Trudeau in a move that came as a surprise. The CM tweeted, “ 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 deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.”
Gandhi, Faith, and Trade
Dressed in festive coloured Indian attire, Trudeau and his family visited Gujarat on Monday. Arriving at the Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport for a day-long visit, the family was greeted by Gujarat minister and State Chief Secretary, Ganpat Vasava. The first engagement of the Trudeaus was a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram. Sporting matching red, yellow, and golden Indian attires, they paid their respects to Mahatma Gandhi, and also tried a hand at a spinning wheel.
They then proceeded to the Akshardham Temple in state capital Gandhinagar, where the family spent approximately 40 minutes. The PM later proceeded to speak at a lively session with students at premier B-school Indian Institute of Management. Regarding trade, he said that the current bilateral trade of $8 billion in goods and $2 billion in services had a potential to grow. “When you think of natural connections between India and Canada, especially in field of agriculture or pulses, where we have slight challenges. We are discussing potential of growth in pulses,” Trudeau said.
The 46 year old spoke about the issue of immigration, in context of most of the countries globally looking inwards and raising barriers. He said he and Canada firmly believed that the new reality for the 21st century is going to be heterogeneous societies. “India has done fairly well and Canada too has done fairly well to see that differences can become source of strength and not weakness... As you get more pluralistic, language, religion, ethnicity, ideology should be anchored in shared values that society subscribes to.”
Trudeau said that dividing society on the basis of ethnicity and religious lines was a “tribal” approach to civilisation that has over thousands of years ripped apart these beliefs. “There are two paths, you can either amplify the anxiety in the world by blaming a particular ethnic or religious group for all the troubles in the society or you can take a more successful pluralistic approach, when you actually meet people with different story and believe that we meet them and grow,”
Trudeau wound up his visit with a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at the airport before his departure. Both the leaders discussed different aspects of Gujarat-Canada relations. An official release said Rupani invited Trudeau to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019, with the country delegation. Canada is a partner country of the mega biennial event. Trudeau, on his part, invited Rupani to visit Canada ahead of the summit, an invitation Rupani accepted.
Both leaders had detailed discussions about increasing cooperation in various sectors such as education, industries, start-ups, and innovation. Rupani extended invitations to Canadian firms to set up operations in Gujarat.
In the agenda for the Canadian PM, a round-table meeting with businessmen in Mumbai, visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Jama Masjid in Delhi, and a bilateral meeting with Modi awaits. Punjab's Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Gobind Singh Longowal has said that they would hold a special event in his honour during his visit to the Golden Temple on February 21. He said the committee would welcome Trudeau at the main gates of the Golden Temple and then escort him to the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. He added that the Canadian PM had proved his grit by standing up for issues concerning the Sikh community in Canada.
