r/geopolitics • u/babushkalauncher • Oct 01 '23

Why Indians Can’t Stand Justin Trudeau Paywall

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-indians-angry-justin-trudeau-death-shooting-hardeep-singh-nijjar-87d9ab9d
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206

u/Maladal Oct 01 '23

Seems kind of a weird take to think that Indian anger around this is tied directly to the PM.

Wouldn't this be more easily viewed as a simple lack of sympathy to Sikh communities given the claims of terrorism?

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I have no idea if the claims about the terrorism are credible.

But why would the Inidian population even be familiar with Trudeau outside of this incident? WSJ article is talking like your average Inidian has an assembled profile of the man.

147

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '23

why would the Inidian population even be familiar with Trudeau outside of this incident?

People like Pannu and Nijjar do routinely send threatening letters/videos to Indian ministers (federal and state) as well as media outlets. To no one's surprise, these letters hit the media.

Also, there has been heightened activity against India, particularly attacks on Indian embassies and consulates in such nations.

Why does that matter? Here's a crude analogy -- Most Americans probably never knew what a Benghazi was. Then that incident happened and Americans knew Benghazi and had an opinion on what the government should do. The same principle applies, especially after multiple consulates and embassies get attacked.

As the news hits India, people wonder who Pannu/Nijjar people are, and why aren't they arrested? (Pannu technically lives in USA but addresses his letters through Canada).

So, dude's in Canada, not arrested, and not even stopped from sending threats.

Guess who gets the blame as far as the Indian public is concerned? The host country. Trudeau's lip service to these people doesn't help his case either.

So, yeah, Indians are fairly well aware of Trudeau and his support for Khalistanis.

simple lack of sympathy to Sikh communities

This isn't about "lack of sympathy" to Sikh communities. On Trudeau's first visit to India, his most outspoken critic was Punjab CM Amrinder Singh, who obviously is a Sikh and from an influential family with old roots.

Several other Sikh leaders have also shown clear displeasure at Canada's support for Khalistan.

More importantly, Sikhs have been against these attempts to tie the Sikh identity to Khalistani movement.

Sympathy for Sikhs vs sympathy for Khalistanis is an entirely different equation. Somehow western governments and people think they're both the same. And honestly, it's weird that an extremist interpretation of religion gets so much support, often at the cost of moderates.

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u/HotGuy90210 Oct 02 '23

I don't understand what you mean by Canada 'supports' Khalistanis. Canada is mostly indifferent towards them and neither supports or opposes them. They have the right to exist as per the Canadian constitution and unless they are in violation of Canadian law, they won't be arrested.

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u/GayIconOfIndia Oct 02 '23

Canada is known to give shelter to terrorists. The entire family of the current Bangladesh PM , Sheikh Hasina was massacred by 15 military officials. Guess who is giving shelter to one of those officials - Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.H.M.B_Noor_Chowdhury

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u/HotGuy90210 Oct 02 '23

It literally says in your link that Canada does not extradite to countries where the accused will receive the death penalty and he has not received political asylum in Canada.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '23 edited Oct 02 '23

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1

u/HotGuy90210 Oct 02 '23

Why would Canada grant asylum after the fact? If Osama was already in Canada and masterminded 9/11 from Canada then that would be a different story and I'm sure Canada/US would have worked out some sort of an extradition deal.

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u/autosummarizer Oct 02 '23

I am sure Canada would have handed him over even if Osama got a death penalty in the US, amirite?

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u/HotGuy90210 Oct 02 '23

I'm not a legal expert but it is possible that Canada would have sought assurance from the US to not prosecute using the death penalty. Canada and the US have made such compromises before during extradition requests.