Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Former Punjab chief minister and senior BJP leader Amarinder Singh lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday (October 25, 2024) for “ruining” the India-Canada ties, saying he is only interested in getting Sikh votes in elections.

Mr. Singh’s remarks came amid frosty relations between India and Canada.

India has recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats from Canada after they were named as “persons of interest” in a Canadian investigation into the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist who was a Canadian citizen, in British Columbia.

“Trudeau has ruined the relationship [between India and Canada]. Trudeau is interested in only one thing and that is getting the Sikh votes for his own election,” Mr. Singh said while replying to a reporter’s question on the diplomatic row between India and Canada.

“He does not care what happens. He has done this earlier also. He is promoting Khalistanis. This is something that is not acceptable,” he said while talking to reporters in Khanna.

Recalling his tenure as the Punjab chief minister, Mr. Singh said he had refused to meet the then Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan during his visit to India and called him a “Khalistani sympathiser”.

“When I was in the government, the Canadian defence minister was on a visit to India. I had refused to meet him,” he said.

“Canada and India had very friendly relations. It is Trudeau who ruined it,” Mr. Singh added.

Recalling Trudeau’s visit to India in 2018, he said, “When Trudeau came here, he wanted to meet me. I said I do not want to meet him. He wanted to visit Punjab. Then the government of India took a stand and said if you do not go and meet the chief minister, you cannot go to Punjab. Then we had to meet.” During his trip to Punjab, Trudeau and his family had visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The relations between the two countries have plunged to their lowest level over Canada’s tacit support to Khalistani extremists among the large Sikh-Canadian population of about eight lakh.

New Delhi accuses Ottawa of doing next to nothing to stop the activities of Khalistani supporters who seek to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.