*NEWS DESK: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was given a guardedwelcome to India as a way of showing “polite displeasure” over hiscountry’s sympathies with Sikh nationalists, an expert has said,reported The Independent.*
Mr Trudeau touched down at New Delhi airport over the weekend to be greetedonly by a junior agricultural minister. He is not due to meet Indianpremier Narendra Modi until the sixth day of his week-long tour.
His trip to Taj Mahal was also a small-scale family affair – with mostattention being paid to the PM sporting Star Wars footwear in an apparentnod to Mr Modi’s favourite film.
By contrast the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warmlyembraced by the Indian leader on the tarmac moments after he stepped offthe plane last month.
Tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments have increased inrecent years because of the growth in support in North America for anindependent Sikh nation of Khalistan.
The Sikh nationalist campaign aims to create a separate country in thePunjab region of northern India.
There are nearly half-a-million Sikhs in Canada and three Sikh-Canadians inMr Trudeau’s cabinet including defence minister Harjit Sajjan, whose fatherwas a member of the World Sikh Organisation.
Mr Sajjan was branded a ‘Khalistani sympathiser’ by Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh last year. He rejected the claim as “ridiculous”.
India was further upset when the Ontario Parliament passed a motioncondemning the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as “genocide”. Pro-Khalistangroups in Canada are even said to be planning a “Punjab IndependenceReferendum” in 2020.
Dr Gareth Price, an senior research fellow at Chatham House, said Mr Modi’sdecision not to personally welcome Mr Trudeau was “a way of showing a bitof polite displeasure”.
He said: “The welcome will be more guarded when there is a suspicion that acountry is not 100 per cent pro-India. It is an issue that has affected theUK in the past, as some of the biggest supporters of an independent Sikhstate are in the UK and Canada.
“The UK has taken steps to demonstrate unambiguously we have no sympathies.Denmark also has an issue.”
Captain Amarinder Singh tweeted about welcoming Mr Trudeau to the GoldenTemple in Amritsar – even though Canada has said there are no plans for ameeting.
Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeaulink> in Amritsar onWednesday. I’m hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the closeIndo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-peoplerelations between our two countries.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018link>
The temple was the scene of a controversial military operation to drive outKhalistani separatists in June 1984 which left hundreds dead. Four monthslater the Prime Minister Indira Gandi was assassinated by her Sikhbodyguards and more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the resulting riots.
Mr Modi’s failure to welcome Mr Trudeau dominated the Twitter hashtag#trudeauinindia and one user celebrated it as a “humiliation for aterrorist sympathiser”.
The Former Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Vishnu Prakash, attacked the“political mollycoddling” of Khalistanis in Canada but insisted Mr Trudeauwas an “esteemed guest”.
“A Canadian political leader will naturally be courting different sectionsof society to be successful,” Mr Prakash told Indian news website, ThePrint. “The Sikhs are a dynamic, vibrant and chivalrous community, andcourting them is fine. The difficulty lies with appearing at radicalplatforms. It provides them legitimacy and the oxygen of publicity.
“The Khalistani separatists use such forums to whip-up anti-Indiasentiments and disaffection. India has been taking up this issue at alllevels.
“That said, I completely disagree with the media construct that PM Trudeauis being cold shouldered. He is an esteemed guest and both sides haveinvested a lot in this relationship. He is here at the PM’s invitation;every courtesy has been extended to him.”