The gloves of diplomatic niceties are off. Canada and India have gone for a slanging match. Canada seems to be our new Pakistan. The stern language that India has used for Canada is of the kind that we have generally reserved for our Western neighbour and it goes well beyond what we have ever used against our most dangerous adversary — China.
Amidst all this diplomatic grandstanding, vote-bank politics and a suicidal spiral in relations, what seems to be standing out is the unsaid.
Canada has made unsubstantiated public allegations of Indian involvement in the assassination of a person, designated as a terrorist by India. The world is seeking evidence as the only logical way forward from here. None seems to be forthcoming from Canada. India has branded these claims as absurd. If Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had indeed discussed this issue with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then it’s logical that he would have shared some of their findings with the Indian PM. India can easily call the Canadian bluff by presenting to the world whatever evidence the Canadian authorities have shared with India, thus far. However, India is also silent on this matter.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, the key accused in the Air India Kanishka bombing incident of 1985, had a running feud with Hardeep Singh Nijjar. After being acquitted by the Canadian authorities, Ripudaman Singh visited India in 2019. He was subsequently assassinated in Canada. The finger of suspicion was squarely on Nijjar and his associates. Why is this angle not coming out? Nijjar’s death could simply be a case of settling accounts between two warring factions of Khalistani terror groups.
In recent times, India’s rise as well as its emergence as the voice of the Global South was on ample display on the global stage. The successful culmination of the G20 summit, in India, only accentuated this fact. The nature of geopolitics is such that it’s essentially a zero-sum game. India’s rise is at the expense of the West and the Anglo-Saxon dominance. The timing of this incident seems to suggest that India’s rise would not go uncontested. With a tacit nod from the rest, Canada might as well be playing bad cop, while delivering reputational damage to India’s global standing.
While much has been said, it’s the unsaid which begs greater attention. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
The writer has over 19 years of IT services and investment banking experience. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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