Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
National

India's 'muscular' foreign policy is essentially for domestic consumption: Ex-Canadian Minister Ujjal Dosanjh

Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 Oct, 2023 11:45 AM
  • India's 'muscular' foreign policy is essentially for domestic consumption: Ex-Canadian Minister Ujjal Dosanjh

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Calling for immediate de-escalation in strained diplomatic relations between India and Canada, Ujjal Dosanjh, former premier of British Columbia and erstwhile Canadian Minister of Health, stressed that India's "muscular" foreign policy is essentially for domestic consumption and not granting visas to Canadian citizens hurts ordinary Indo-Canadians.

“You cannot give collective punishment just because a few have erred. It is people like us who suffer,” he tells IANS.

The diplomatic row that erupted after Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot in Canada, and the Canadian Prime Minister alleged the possible involvement of Indian security agencies has now led to the expulsion of 41 Canadian diplomats and a visa ban from India.

Maintaining that it is only a minuscule Punjabi population in Canada that raises the demand for Khalistan, and the majority continues to be pro-India, Dosanjh, who publicly took on the Khalistanis in the 80s and survived a major attack with almost 100 stitches, feels that the whole situation could have been handled more maturely. “Let us not forget that (Justin) Trudeau is surrounded by Khalistanis. However, he should have made the statement in Parliament with some kind of proof. Of course, the fact that the media was all set to publish the story, and he had to act fast is also understandable,” he says.

While stressing that in a free country like Canada, there is nothing wrong in demanding Khalistan, the former Health Minister asserts that keeping in mind the friendly relations between the two countries, the Canadian Prime Minister should make it clear that he does not support the dismemberment of India. “It did not take long for the Canadian PM to condemn the glorification of the violence Hamas unleashed on Israel recently, what is stopping from condemning the violence of Khalistanis in Canada? By the way, I also wonder if some people in Canada are so interested in the idea of Khalistan, why don’t they come here”

Dosanjh, who was recently at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in Kasauli, added that contrary to popular perception in India, the idea of Khalistan has very little role to play in Canadian elections, adds, “It is the state of the economy that drives people’s voting behaviour.”

Believing that a little more maturity shown by leaders of both countries can be instrumental in putting the Indo-Canadian relations back on track, he says even the Indian side needs to be less touchy and jingoistic. “Trudeau had other platforms to raise the issue and not make a statement like that in the Parliament. The Indian side can formally request countries for extradition, and stop using international issues for domestic gains.”

Looking back at his political career in Canada, he says his heart has always been that of an activist and not a politician. “When I ran, and I won. I never thought I would do all the things that I did,” he concludes.

MORE National ARTICLES

Series of fires outside Mission

Series of fires outside Mission
The Mounties say police and firefighters responded Wednesday evening to a report of a structure fire on a vacant property along Gunn Avenue and found several buildings on fire, with indications that the blazes had been set intentionally. They say police responded to flames on a different property along the same road yesterday and again found they appeared to have been sparked intentionally.

Series of fires outside Mission

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in British Columbia, with the BC Centre for Disease Control reporting hospitalizations have increased 58 per cent in the past two weeks. The centre says in its latest update that deaths due to COVID-19 are also trending upwards, with 24 fatalities in the last week of September, compared to nine in the second week of August. 

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count
The count by the Homelessness Services Association of B-C was done on March 7th and 8th -- and identified just under five thousand people in 11 communities, up from the roughly 36-hundred identified in the March 2020 count.

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

Surrey business community grapples with police tax
Business leaders in Surrey are pleading with the province to provide a clear plan as the city grapples with the next stage of implementing a new police force. The Surrey Board of Trade has sent a letter to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth saying the city needs a solid policing strategy with adequate wraparound support services and infrastructure as it juggles the costs of the outgoing R-C-M-P and incoming Surrey Police Service.

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places
British Columbia is setting out new rules as it attempts to navigate a way to curb the overdose crisis with drug decriminalization. Possession of small amounts of many illicit drugs was decriminalized in B.C. in January after the federal government issued an exemption, but legislation introduced by the province today would make their use illegal in many public spaces. 

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill
The federal New Democrats have rejected the first draft of the Liberals' pharmacare legislation, in what the health minister describes as "extremely fluid" negotiations over the highly anticipated bill. The Liberals promised to table pharmacare legislation this fall as part of the supply-and-confidence deal the government struck with the NDP.

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill