On Monday, 18 September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off a one-sided diplomatic war with India by falsely accusing New Delhi of killing Khalistani terrorist Harjeet Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. In a deliberate ploy, he made the allegations in the Canadian parliament without presenting any proof.
Following the shenanigans of Justin Trudeau, there has been increased Khalistani clamour against India and Hindus. Pro-Khalistan lawmaker, Jagmeet Singh, who is already under the radar of the Indian authorities took to X to issue a veiled threat. “I will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice, including holding Narendra Modi accountable”, he said. Further, Gurpatwant Pannu, head of terror outfit Sikhs For Justice has also issued a warning to Hindus to leave Canada, saying that Khalistani Sikhs have always stood by Canada and would continue to do so.
When it comes to subjects like Khalistani terrorism and Islamism, Indian media is not the brightest and most honest spot on the horizon. They mimic those politicians and their sympathizers who, in their hankering for votes, have pandered to extremist elements. On the India Today primetime show hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai on the 19th of September, it was, therefore, not surprising the see the debate play where a former Indian Ambassador was giving a cover fire to Khalistanis while a Canadian journalist and commentator was slamming Justin Trudeau, his woke policies, the conspiracy theories of his government and the Khalistanis he is pandering to.
Twitter user @ramprasad_c posted his observation along with a clip of the debate with Rajdeep Sardesai where former diplomat KC Singh was seen whitewashing the Khalistani terrorist movement in Punjab while Canadian journalist and commentator Daniel Bordman was seen defending India and slamming the antics of Justin Trudeau.
Rajdeep Sardesai’s central question before he started the debate was “How should India deal with the latest challenge thrown by Canada”. He asked former Ambassador KC Singh if Canada had crossed a red line after they seem to be sheltering those accused of being Khalistani terrorists. KC Singh proceeded to answer that question with obfuscation, conjectures and almost painting the Khalistani terrorists as innocent individuals who merely feel slighted and ‘under attack’ by the Indian government.
In his response, KC Singh said, “We have to relate what happens in Punjab to what happens in Canada. There has always been a very small element among the Sikh diaspora that has carried this fiction in their head about Khalistan, but Khalistan if it has to be formed, it has to be formed in Punjab. Here essentially from 2015, when the desecration took place – otherwise after Blue Star this had all settled down. Nobody has thought of it, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution was forgotten and the people who created the resolution were allies of the BJP, the Akali Dal. The 2015 desecration mishandled by the Akalis is the basis of it and even the way Gurmeet Ram Rahim has handled the situation in Haryana. He is a convicted rapist, a murderer. He gets remanded from jail twice a year. And he is treated like a VIP by the Haryana Government.”
Singh further indicated that Akali Dal, the ally of the BJP is responsible for creating a feeling that Sikhs are being persecuted. “There is essentially a feeling that Sikhs are being persecuted because Akali Dal has not been able to handle it. Traditionally they handled it and then came the Farmer’s agitation and who dubbed them Khalistanis? It was the Union government’s representative who was calling them Khalistanis at the border. And in the end, there were no Khalistanis. The farmers of Punjab and Haryana work together,” he said.
He also commented on pro-Khalistan sympathizer Amrit Pal Singh and said that he was the one who stirred the controversy in Punjab. “Who allowed to operate him? It’s very important we see what is happening in Punjab,” he said indicating that blaming Canada for its current step against India was pointless.
“They are not going to able to do anything there. Let them hold the referendum there. Let them create a Khalistan in Vancouver. As far as we are concerned, I agree that the Canadian PM has overplayed his hand. They are talking of credible evidence. What is that evidence? You don’t start pointing fingers at a foreign country in the Parliament of a nation when you really don’t have any proof… It’s a political game here and it’s a political game there,” he could be further heard as saying.
Canadian journalist slammed Justin Trudeau
Meanwhile, Canadian journalist and commentator, Daniel Bordman stated that the high-ranking liberal officials in the country are open-air India conspiracy theorists. “I know such people who exist in the Republican Party, they are in the coalition with the New Democratic Party. This is a part of vote bank politics. Justin Trudeau believes in what he thinks. He might not be the smartest man in the world but he sticks to his ideologies. It is a sort of intersectional leftism and they are woke. There is an element of anti-India within our academia, our ‘experts’, the same way the anti-national stuff manifested in the West too,” he said.
Slamming the Canadian PM and his ideologies, he added, “His circle is sort of intersectional types who have this kind of views about India and its happenings. So, this also influences the decision-making. I don’t believe this is about national security. We’ve seen the evidence recently in the Chinese scandal. Threatening the family of a sitting Canadian official, the evidence came out and the government didn’t take any action for a week. Later the entire public in the country had to force the Canadian government to take action. In the given case, there is no public evidence and we are going to start a fight with our geo-political ally, one of the largest democracies in the world? This is insane,” he said.
MEA refuted the allegation put forth by Canada
The comments came as the Canadian government accused India of its involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey.
However, the Canadian claims were fiercely refuted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). “We reject the Prime Minister of Canada’s statement in Parliament, as well as the Foreign Minister’s statement. Allegations of the Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asserted in a statement.
The MEA response came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed the country’s security forces were looking into a possible link between the Indian government and the June 18 shooting death of Najjar, a Canadian citizen, outside a gurdwara in Surrey by two unidentified gunmen. Trudeau also stated that he raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit.
Who was Khalistani terrorist Najjar?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Khalistani terrorist wanted by the Indian government. The 46-year-old hailed from the village Bhar Singhpura of Jalandhar. He was President of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Canada. His name was recently added to the list of designated terrorists by the Indian Government.
In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) declared a Rs 10 lakh reward on Nijjar after his name appeared in a conspiracy to kill a Hindu priest in Jalandhar, Punjab.
The Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) was behind the conspiracy to kill the Hindu priest. Najjar was the chief of the Khalistani terrorist organization KTF. Apart from his activities in KTF, Nijjar was also linked to the Khalistani terrorist organization Sikhs For Justice.
He reportedly went to Australia for a ‘Referendum’ voting recently. NIA also booked him in a conspiracy to commit terrorist activities against India. The Khalistani terrorist had fled India and arrived in Toronto on 10 February 1997 under the fake name Ravi Sharma. He used a fake identity in order to escape from Indian security for his association with Sikh terrorists.
Najjar was linked to a Khalistani terrorist organization since the 1990s. He was an associate of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a designated terrorist by the Government of India under the UAPA. Najjar, the head of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, was shot dead in Surrey by two unidentified assailants on 18 June this year. He was a wanted terrorist by the Indian Government.