Wednesday 28 February 2018

Justin Trudeau calamatous Indian diplomacy

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just came back from an eight-day trip to India. The general perception is that Trudeau probably wishes he never went, following a disastrous experience which caused unmeasurable harm to the strong diplomatic ties between the two countries. This ranged from Trudeau getting involved in domestic Indian and separatist Sikh politics, to his outlandish ethnic outfits for each occasion, to being snubbed by Prime Minister Modi until the last day. It was followed by a diplomatic storm with Trudeau accusing factions in the Indian government of sabotaging his trip and a damning response by the Indian government. Trudeau certainly won't be seen anywhere near India ever again, adding to his equally disastrous visit to China a few months earlier.
A bit of historical perspective: In 1958 when Canadian PM John Diefenbaker visited India, officials debated the pros and cons of whether he should go on a tiger hunt, and they concluded that one of the cons was that the "Prime Minister could be eaten by tiger." After Trudeau's visit, the prevailing sentiment is more likely to be that in the latter’s case, being eaten by a tiger would have been a big pro.