Khalistan factor casts chill on visits by Justin Trudeau, Rishi Sunak; panned back home

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, September 12

Having been stranded for two days following a technical snag in his aircraft, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally left Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

He was the last G20 leader to leave the country after a glitch in the plane when it was about to take off on September 10 evening.

India offered plane

• The government offered to fly him out in Air India One, but Trudeau reportedly declined
• The MEA said it extended all due protocol to Trudeau who mostly stayed in his hotel room

After a frosty welcome during the G20 summit, the government offered to fly him out in Air India One, but he reportedly declined.

Minister of State for Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar saw off Trudeau, his son Xavier and the rest of the delegation. The MEA said it extended all due protocol to Trudeau who did not request any meeting and mostly stayed in his hotel room.

Trudeau as well as British PM Rishi Sunak have been criticised by their respective media for their reduced stature in global politics. Trudeau messed up his India visit for a second time in a row. For Sunak, the visit did not measure up despite proclaiming himself to be a “proud Hindu” and “son-in-law of India”. In Trudeau’s case, what did not go down well with New Delhi was his remark that Khalistani separatists were “a small group of people”. India responded with a strong readout after the Modi-Trudeau talks. “The nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well,” said the readout.

Trudeau was not spotted at the President’s dinner on Saturday and he was not seen during the high-profile launch of the Global Bio Fuels Alliance the same day. Later, it was said he got late at both the events. For Sunak too, the visit was underwhelming. Though Sunak maintained an ‘all-is-well visage’ after meeting PM Modi and expressed confidence that FTA talks would be concluded by the year-end, a senior diplomat assessed that the interaction was tepid.

Like Trudeau, Sunak was seen to be soft-peddling on the Khalistan issue. His observations that two groups were handling the issue did not mollify the government here.