Canada-India row: When Indira Gandhi took up Khalistan issue with Justin Trudeau’s father

Soon after MEA’s statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government responded after the police began pursuing credible allegations that Indian agents were directly involved in the assassination of Nijjar.

This is not the first time that the two countries have locked horns over an issue connected to the Khalistan movement in Canada. The tussle goes back to 1982 when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi spoke her mind on the subject to Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, who was Canada’s Prime Minister then. Here is what had happened between Indira and Pierre.

Why did Indira Gandhi complain to Pierre Trudeau about the Khalistan movement?

Many have seen Canada as a safe haven for Khalistan supporters and militant voices accused of terrorism in India since at least 1982.

In January that year, Surjan Singh Gill, born in Singapore and raised in India and England, established the ‘Khalistan government in exile’ office in Vancouver. He even issued blue Khalistani passports and colorful currency. However, he garnered limited support among local Sikhs, with some of his activists displaying Khalistan posters being beaten up during a Vaisakhi procession in April.

The same year, Pierre Trudeau declined to extradite Talwinder Singh Parmar, accused of killing two police officers in Punjab.

Canadian journalist Terry Milewski documented this in his book Blood for Blood: Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project (2021), noting that the Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge was criticised by Indian politicians, including Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“The meek Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge was a frequent target of Indian politicians as far back as 1982, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi complained about it to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,” he wrote.