- Tuesday, April 22, 2025
While Amarinder Singh said the Canadian PM was playing to the vote gallery, Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said the latter should come out clean with all the facts.
By: Shubham Ghosh
EVER since bringing allegations of the Indian government agents’ ‘potential link’ with the murder of Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has faced a backlash both in India and as well as at home.
Amarinder Singh, former chief minister of the Indian state of Punjab and one of the country’s prominent Sikh politicians, slammed Trudeau over his allegations that he called “baseless” and accused the Canadian leader of “playing to the vote gallery” with his claims.
The Sikh community in Canada is a significant part of Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
Singh, who is now a member of prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said he had raised the issue of anti-India activities taking place in Canada with Trudeau during the latter’s visit to India in 2018. Singh was then in the Indian National Congress and the chief minister of Punjab.
Singh had also given Trudeau a list of nine Canada-based operatives who were allegedly involved in terror activities and the Canadian leader said he was aware of the danger. Trudeau had also assured Singh then that Ottawa doesn’t support any separatist movement and said the Indian leader’s concerns would be looked into.
According to Singh, the murder of Nijjar was the result of a factional feud within the management of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, Canada.
In 2018, during Justin Trudeau’s official visit to India, Amarinder Singh, who was then the Chief Minister of Punjab, raised the Khalistan issue with the Canadian PM. Amarinder Singh had given Trudeau a list of nine Canada-based operatives alleged to be involved in terrorist activities and the Canadian PM said he was fully aware of the dangers of violence.
Trudeau had assured Amarinder Singh that Canada does not support any separatist movement and said his concerns about militancy would be looked into.
Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre also took a dig at Trudeau over his allegations against India and said the latter should come out clean with all the facts.
In a media address on Tuesday, the Conservative leader said, “I think the prime minister needs to come clean with all the facts. We need to know all the evidence possible so that Canadians can make judgments on that.
The opposition leader’s remarks came in response to a media query that asked what more should be done as an Indian diplomat was expelled by Canada.
“The prime minister hasn’t provided any facts. He provided a statement. And I will just emphasize that he didn’t tell me any more in private than he told Canadians in public. So we want to see more information,” Poilievre said.
He stated that the allegations could be found untrue or incredible if more information is not provided.
“We need to have the evidence that drew that allowed the prime minister to come to the conclusions he made yesterday,” he said.
“I would have to have more evidence to make a judgment on that. I do find it interesting that he knew about vast foreign interference by Beijing for many years, at the same time as Beijing had kept two Canadian citizens hostage. And he said nothing. And he did nothing. Just very interesting that that was the approach he took in that case,” he added.
(With agencies inputs)
