The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to meet Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh during his visit to Amritsar on Wednesday. Earlier, the Canadian PM had refused to meet the Punjab CM owing to Captain’s strong stand against the Khalistanis.
According to reports, the Canadian High Commission was initially hesitant about the meeting the Punjab CM. But Trudeau, after landing in Delhi on Saturday, took a call to reach out for a meeting. The Ministry of External Affairs has sent out a fresh itinerary to the Punjab government on Monday regarding the Canadian PM’s visit to the state. The new itinerary also includes an interaction between the visiting PM and Punjab CM scheduled on Wednesday.
Captain Amarinder Singh has tweeted about the meeting:
Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I’m hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018
The meeting is expected to take place at Taj Swarna Hotel in Amritsar at 12.40 pm when Justin Trudeau is scheduled to reach after visiting the Golden Temple and Partition Museum. It will last 20 minutes. According to a report in The Indian Express, sources inside the Canadian government have said the agenda is open-ended and they expect the concerns and sensitivities from the Indian side to be conveyed appropriately. Trudeau is expected to meet PM Narendra Modi in Delhi on Friday for bilateral talks. During his visit to the Golden Temple, Trudeau will be honoured in a special programme by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).
In the past Captain Amarinder Singh had refused to meet the Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan Singh accusing him of being a Khalistan sympathiser.
Earlier there were several reports in the media about the Canadian PM being given the cold shoulder and neither PM Modi nor UP CM Yogi Adityanath coming to receive Trudeau. Congress leaders were also criticised for failing to stand up for their elected CM.
Veteran journalist and political commentator Kanchan Gupta has reacted on Twitter regarding the news:
“Canadian High Commission was initially hesitant about scheduling a meeting with Singh. Trudeau, *after landing* in Delhi on Saturday, took the call to reach out for a meeting.”
Strict adherence to protocol is not a bad idea. It has its upsides too. https://t.co/JHZ8Lj5hDr— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) February 19, 2018
There are speculations that whether Trudeau, after receiving a ‘not so big’ welcome by the Indian Government, has corrected his course.
