India's successful hosting of G20 was marred by a diplomatic row between Canada and Indian authorities.
Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India. And thus they can influence polls and that is Trudeau's problem.
Canada is home to one of the largest overseas communities of Indian origin, which number approximately 1.4 million out of an overall Canadian population of 40 million.
About 770,000 people reported Sikhism as their religion in the 2021 census.
Brampton's Sikhs constitute nearly 25 per cent, or a quarter, of the town's population, according to Canadian government data. Data from the 2021 census says there are over 1.6 lakh Sikhs in Brampton, which is located in the Greater Toronto Area and in Ontario province.
India’s Punjab state – which is about 58% Sikh and 39% Hindu – was rocked by a violent Khalistan separatist movement in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which thousands of people died. Today, that movement’s most vocal advocates are primarily among the Punjabi overseas diaspora.
Indian Govt has often complained to Canada’s governments about the activities of Sikh hardliners among the Indian diaspora who, it says, are trying to revive the insurgency. In June, India’s foreign minister hit out at Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of then-Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, perceived to be glorification of violence by Sikh separatists, says a report in 'The Guardian'.
In 2018, Trudeau assured India that Canada would not support anyone trying to revive a separatist movement in India but he has repeatedly said he respects the right to free speech and assembly of protesters to demonstrate.
What does this mean for Canada-India relations?
The two countries, which earlier this year said they could agree the outlines of a trade deal by the end of 2023, have now frozen talks on the agreement. Canada gave few details while India cited “certain political developments”.
India is Canada’s tenth largest trading partner and plans for a trade deal have been in the pipeline for over a decade. However, in 2022, bilateral trade between the two amounted to just C$13.7bn out of a total of C$1.52 trillion of all Canadian trade, according to Statistics Canada.
After rejecting the allegations in a statement on Tuesday, the Indian government urged Trudeau to take actions against, what it termed, “anti-India elements” operating from inside Canada and followed this up by ordering a senior Canadian diplomat to leave the country.
Nijjar had campaigned for an independent Sikh nation – known as Khalistan – to be carved out of India’s Punjab state. He was wanted by Indian authorities and had been designated as a “terrorist” in July 2020. He had been warned by Canada’s spy agency about threats against him, according to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, which alleged he was “assassinated in a targeted shooting”.
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| Indira and Rahul Gandhi |
Although Punjab has been peaceful for nearly two decades, the state was the scene of a violent insurgency for an independent Sikh homeland in the 1980s and the 1990s.
In 1984 Indian security forces killed many Sikh militants after they seized the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikh religion's most important site.
Indira Gandhi, prime minister in office, was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards. This was followed by anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
Notably, in 2018, Trudeau assured India that Canada would not support anyone trying to revive a separatist movement in India but he has repeatedly said he respects the right to free speech and assembly of protesters to demonstrate.
The Sikh religion was founded in Punjab in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak.
It is estimated there are about 25 million followers worldwide. Sikhs form a majority of Punjab’s population but are a minority in India, comprising two per cent of its population of 1.4 billion.
The Indian army and Punjab police under KPS Gill launched operations in 1986 and 1988 to flush out Sikh militants from Punjab.
Sikh militants were also blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India in which all 329 people on board were killed off the Irish coast.
In April this year, India arrested a self-styled preacher and Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh for allegedly reviving calls for Khalistan, sparking fears of new violence in Punjab. Earlier this year, India hit out at Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the assassination of Indira Gandhi, perceiving this to be a glorification of Sikh separatist violence.
India has also been upset about frequent demonstrations and vandalism allegedly by Sikh separatists and their supporters at Indian diplomatic missions in Canada, Britain, the US and Australia, and has sought better security from local governments. Indian diplomats based in Canada have on numerous occasions said that Ottawa’s failure to tackle “Sikh extremism”, and the constant harassment of Indian diplomats and officials by Khalistanis, is a major foreign policy stress point.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised strong concerns about Sikh protests in Canada with Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi.
Canada has paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India. Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng is postponing a planned trade mission to India.
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