Canada has witnessed multiple embarrassments under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, largely due to his foreign policy choices. All this while Justin Trudeau has supported separatist forces within India and now Trudeau has even made uninformed comments on the farmers’ protests in India, which is India’s internal matter. However, as Canada’s vaccine programme has failed and the Covid-19 situation in the country is not entirely under control, Trudeau had to call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and request for help and support on the vaccination drive.
Justin Trudeau had made common cause with Sikh separatists or Khalistanis and was utilizing their support for his petty politics, but while doing their bidding, he has led to the deterioration of bilateral relations with India. However, with the growing pressure from the opposition party and the people, Trudeau had to request for Covid-19 vaccines from Prime Minister Modi. The fact that only a while ago he was echoing the concerns of Khalistani separatists adds to the shame that he should have felt.
Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter to state, “Was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery.” And if things do go through, Canada would be able to gain access to the Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, both of which are being produced in India.
https://twitter.com/ItsShubhangi/status/1359566930542174210
Justin Trudeau has been echoing the voices of his coalition partner and a closet Khalistani, Jagmeet Singh, who has defended his appearance at a Sikh independence rally, to make statements on the farmers’ protests and internationalise the issue to corner India. It is even alleged that a PR agency linked with Jagmeet Singh has been paying celebrities huge sums of money to tweet about the farmers’ protests and destabilise the situation in India, one example being Rihanna.
In line with this, Trudeau had earlier said that Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protesters, and expressed concern over the situation. New Delhi did not take these uneducated and uninformed comments lightly as Trudeau was legitimizing a narrative with no substance, just based on the authority of his position as the leader of Canada.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also skipped a Canada-led meeting to formulate strategies on the coronavirus pandemic. India being the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccine holds immense potential to save the world from this pandemic, however, the stance taken by Justin Trudeau made it difficult for Canada to be India’s partner in these efforts.
It is often said that life comes full circle to some people pretty fast and this is what happened with Justin Trudeau. He was too sure about the Canadian vaccine development efforts with China, but it failed gloriously. On the other hand, the supply of US vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer have been delayed given the demand within the USA.
Update: after this exchange, Trudeau called @narendramodi. Thank you to the Indian government for taking the call! Opposition political pressure works. https://t.co/nKkkUicUD5
— Michelle Rempel Garner (@MichelleRempel) February 10, 2021
All these aspects coupled with the constant pressure from the Canadian opposition forced Trudeau to connect with Prime Minister Modi and request if Canada too could receive the Indian vaccines. It must have been embarrassing for Justin Trudeau who has compromised bilateral relations with India to cater to the overt as well as closet Khalistanis for domestic political gains. Trudeau would have been reminiscing about the disastrous 2018 India visit where he even sported a Sikh extremist named Jaspal Atwal to a dinner hosted by the Canadian embassy in India
India is a vaccine powerhouse, it makes 60% of the world’s vaccines and is home to half a dozen major manufacturers. It is because of this India can distribute vaccines so efficiently to so many places at such a fast pace.
India’s large vaccine production capacity coupled with its innate leadership quality makes it the most efficient and responsible world power in leading the world against the current crisis. These capabilities forced Trudeau to eat crow and dump his separatist supporters to get help from Prime Minister Modi.