An Indian politician railed against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by telling him to segment part of Canada and create a new country for Sikh separatists as a diplomatic feud between the two nations intensifies.
Indian politician Jai Bhagwan Goyal, leader of the United Hindu Front, called out Trudeau over what Goyal claims to be protecting “anti-India Khalistanis” during a protest held by the group last weekend.
The protest took place in New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and was held to express India’s discontent with the Canadian prime minister, following his comments that there was evidence for “credible allegations” that members of the Indian government orchestrated the murder of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
“If the Prime Minister of Canada loves Khalistanis so much, then why doesn’t he break up a part of Canada and create a new Khalistan country? We will be the first to give him recognition,” said Goyal, according to India Today.
The United Hindu Front is a group that aims to “unite Hindus and Hindu organizations across the world under one banner, irrespective of caste, position or their affiliation.”
The escalating fallout between Canada and India took off after Trudeau made explosive allegations that the Indian government had a hand in the assassination of Nijjar, an outspoken Sikh activist and separatist.
The Indian government denied all allegations of involvement and accused the Trudeau government of aiding and harbouring those who they believe to be Sikh extremist terrorists.
In 2019, Amarinder Singh, a Sikh-Indian politician and the Chief Minister of the Punjab region accused Trudeau of pandering to Sikh voters after deciding to remove references to “Sikh extremism” from the Public Safety Canada’s annual reports on terrorist threats within Canada.
Trudeau made his initial allegations on Sept. 18, since then the two nations have engaged in a tit for tat diplomatic dispute which has led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from both countries, travel advisories and India’s halt on issuing visas to Canadians.
Trudeau said he believes that an appropriate resolution to the conflict would be to see “a number of people thrown in jail, convicted” in a recent interview with the New York Times.
“A series of lessons learned and changes made to the way the Indian government and the intelligence services operate,” said Trudeau.
“This sort of violation of a country’s sovereignty and of the rule of law is absolutely unacceptable. I think people are quietly waiting to see how things unfold. But standing up for the rule of law isn’t a momentary thing. It’s a process that happens over weeks and months.”
Last weekend, in India, political consultant Kapil Kumar allegedly called for a nuclear attack on Canada by India while on a live talk show, according to the National Post.
“This issue must reach its logical end after escalation, it should not be left in the middle. Mr Trudeau, what are you? Today 10 of our submarines will go from Hindustan and nuke you Canada. What is your place?” Kumar said allegedly.
In 2010, Canada and India signed a nuclear cooperation agreement after many years of distrust between the two, after it was revealed that India used Canadian nuclear technology for a weapons test in 1974.
