How did India-Canada relations come to such a pass that the two countries expelled each other’s top diplomats? The murky record of the dead man at the centre of the row and the political considerations alleged to be at play are highlighted by the Indian news site, Firstpost, in a YouTube video.
“Why did Trudeau pick a fight over his death?” asks Palki Sharma, referencing the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the deceased Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Sharma, managing editor of Network 18, which owns Firstpost and is part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, focuses on Nijjar’s dark past and Trudeau’s present political problems.
The life of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Born in 1977 in India’s Punjab, Nijjar grew up during the height of the Khalistani militancy demanding an independent Sikh state of Khalistan to be carved out of India.
In 1997, he moved to Canada, entering the country with a fake passport and seeking asylum. His initial request was rejected in 1998, and a later attempt to gain citizenship through a sham marriage also failed. Finally, in 2007, he obtained Canadian citizenship.
Settling in British Columbia, Nijjar emerged as a leading figure in the Khalistani movement, first with Babbar Khalsa International and later as the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). While publicly organizing referendums for Khalistan, he was involved in recruiting and training vulnerable Sikh youth in Canada for militant activities in India. Reports also suggest he might have visited Pakistan and collaborated with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.
Nijjar’s activities put him on the radar of Indian security agencies. In 2007, he was linked to a bombing in Punjab and accused of assassinating Sikh politicians in India. By 2014, Interpol had issued a red corner notice against Nijjar, calling for his arrest. However, instead of arresting him, Canada put him on a no-fly list.
Trudeau’s ‘blunder’ in India and political problems at home
The diplomatic relationship between India and Canada began to sour after Justin Trudeau’s 2015 election. Though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada in April 2015 when Stephen Harper was the Canadian prime minister was described as highly productive, the tone shifted after Trudeau took office. A key moment came during Trudeau’s 2018 trip to India when there was a backlash after the Canadians invited a convicted Khalistani terrorist to an official event. Though the invitation was withdrawn, the incident marked a significant blunder, reflecting what some saw as Trudeau’s lack of understanding of India and the Khalistan issue.
Tensions escalated further after Trudeau’s 2021 election, in which his party lost its majority and had to rely on the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh, an advocate for Khalistan. Sharma suggests that this political alliance, combined with the growing Sikh population in Canada, fuelled Trudeau’s decisions. The Sikh community, which grew from 0.9% of Canada’s population in 2001 to 2.1% in 2021, became a key voter base for Trudeau, and Nijjar’s murder provided a political opportunity for him to both defend Canadian sovereignty and appeal to Khalistani supporters.
Chinese meddling in Canadian elections
Sharma also points to another potential motivation for Trudeau’s actions. By alleging Indian involvement in the death of Nijjar, he is distracting public attention from another serious allegation.
“Canadian intelligence reports had accused China of election meddling. That too in Trudeau’s favour,” she says. “Beijing thought the opposition was too hawkish. So they tried to get Trudeau re-elected. Have you heard the Prime Minister (Trudeau) talk about that? Forget Trudeau. Have you heard any Canadian politician talk about that? Why would they?” she asks
“The Nijjar case became an international scandal. So China’s meddling became a footnote,” she adds.
That’s not quite true.
Trudeau did appoint an inquiry commission under pressure from opposition legislators unhappy about media reports on China’s possible role in the elections.
“China tried to meddle in the past two Canadian elections but the results were not affected and it was ‘improbable’ Beijing preferred any one party over another, prime minister Justin Trudeau has told an official inquiry,” the Guardian reported in April this year. The report also appeared in the Washington Post and other newspapers.
However, Sharma is right when she says Trudeau is having a hard time. “Right now he is losing horribly in the opinion polls. He is also facing internal rebellion. Around 20 of his party MPs are said to have signed a letter; they are asking Trudeau to step aside. So Trudeau is creating distractions to buy time,” says Sharma, referring to the diplomatic crisis with India over the death of Nijjar. ”In the process he is running this bilateral relationship to the ground,” she adds.