Cold And Sour

Trudeau sacrifices ties with India to save his sagging political career

- MANDIRA NAYAR

If only you knew the power of the dark side. Or so said Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker just before he outs Star Wars' biggest twist-that he is Skywalker's daddy. It is a lesson that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to have taken from his favourite movie. Doing quite badly in opinion polls, Trudeau hopes that the power of the idea of Khalistan will power his revival.

Trudeau's big statement von the floor of the Canadian parliament that "security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar" and the subsequent expulsion of an Indian diplomat have pushed the India-Canada relationship into permafrost. India has come out all guns blazing, calling the allegations absurd and summoning the Canadian high commissioner to South Block for a dressing down. India also announced the expulsion a Canadian diplomat.

"This is a very complex state of affairs, one that goes far beyond the Indian lens," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center. "For Canada, there is a strong emphasis on rule of law, due process and freedom of speech. It means that Ottawa is not only unwilling to crack down on Sikh activism in Canada, but also that it will always condemn in the strongest terms the assassination of a Canadian citizen on its soil, no matter India's contention that Nijjar was a terrorist."