Justin Trudeau's Offensive Is a Pre-Election Ploy Amid Dwindling Support | India News

NEW DELHI: Justin Trudeau's aggression toward India coincides with the Canadian prime minister's declining popularity ratings at home and growing dissent against him, which appears to have increased the need for him to woo the politically significant Sikh community ahead of next year's federal election .
Falling approval ratings
Amid complaints about rising costs of living, a struggling health care system and rising crime rates, an Ipsos poll found that just 26% viewed Trudeau as the best prime ministerial candidate, 19 percentage points fewer than Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
This came after two electoral setbacks. Last month, the ruler Liberal Party lost in Montreal, considered a safe seat, just three months after his defeat in a special election in Toronto after holding the seat for three decades. To make matters worse, Jagmeet Singh's New Democratic Party withdrew its support from the minority Liberal government days before its defeat in Montreal. Singh was a supporter of Khalistan.
Trudeau's party colleagues have called for his resignation as many experts predict the Liberals will be in the same predicament as the Conservatives in the United Kingdom. Trudeau is holding out after surviving two no-confidence motions in Parliament.
Canada has over 7.7 lakh Sikhs, the fourth largest ethnic community, with a section supporting the demand for Khalistan.
Tense relations with India
India has always been skeptical of Trudeau's policies towards pro-Khalistan separatists. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him on the sixth day of his first official visit to the country when a controversy arose over an invitation to a dinner at the Canadian High Commission for businessman Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted but later acquitted of an assassination plot in 1986 He was Minister for Punjab on Vancouver Island. While the invitation was rescinded, Trudeau tried to distance himself from the controversy.
However, there was no change in stance as the Trudeau government refused to take action against protests outside Indian consulates where some protesters burned the Indian flag.
To mark the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, processions in Ontario and Toronto featured floats depicting the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards in 1984. The Canadian government refused to stop a referendum on Khalistan supported by Sikhs for Justice.
Relations reached a low point in 2023
Relations reached a low point after Trudeau claimed “Indian agents” were involved in the June 2023 killing of terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Canadian prime minister made the allegations shortly after returning from New Delhi following the G20 summit in September. India not only denied the allegations but also demanded concrete evidence, which Canada refused to provide.
The two sides halted negotiations on a trade deal and India temporarily stopped processing visas, fearing for the safety of its mission staff in Canada. Over 40 Canadian diplomats were withdrawn from missions in India after New Delhi raised staffing reciprocity.
Canada also sought to draw India into an investigation into alleged election interference.
During a meeting with Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi last year, Prime Minister Modi had expressed concern over anti-India activities by extremists in Canada.
History with Trudeaus
However, this is not the first time that separatists have caused major tensions in bilateral relations between India and Canada. Trudeau's father, Pierre Trudeau, a former prime minister, has been accused of mismanaging relations with New Delhi over Canadian authorities' failure to crack down on Khalistani extremists in the 1980s.
Elliott had rejected India's request to extradite Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Babbar Khalsa member who fled to Canada after being accused of killing two police officers in Punjab. The suspected mastermind of the Kanishka bombing in 1985, he was killed in Punjab seven years later.