On September 18, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, announced the expulsion of Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, due to indications by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) of direct government involvement. Indian in the assassination in Canada of a Canadian Sikh leader last June in British Columbia, Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The Sikh diaspora and the rise of Hindu nationalism
Canada and India have long had tense relations. One of the main reasons is linked to the significant presence of the Sikh community in Canada, but above all to the alleged involvement of some of them in a separatist movement whose political project is the creation of an independent Sikh state. (Khalistan) in the Punjab region of northern India.
This movement was very active between 1970 and 1990. The coming to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, a Hindu nationalist party led by Narendra Modi, contributed to its reactivation. The Modi government’s desire to create a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu State) results in the adoption of discriminatory policies towards certain communities, mainly Muslims, Christians and Sikhs.
Consequently, we are observing a rise in inter-community tensions in India, with the Indian government describing any movement that opposes its policies as “terrorist” and “anti-national”. The Khalistan issue is a very sensitive subject and is termed as a “major risk” to the country’s national security.
It is important to remember that in 2020, in India, a movement emerged to denounce the liberalization of the agricultural sector. Sikh people were extremely mobilized due to their heavy economic dependence on agriculture. The protests grew in scale, with millions of people on the outskirts of Delhi, leading to violent state repression in the capital.
Prime Minister Trudeau then spoke out in solidarity with the protest movement in the name of defending freedom of expression. For the Modi government, however, this position constituted interference by Canada in its internal affairs, associating it with the country’s historic relationship with the Sikhs.
Only days after the end of the G20 summit in Delhi, recent events mark an important diplomatic turn. Several aspects will need to be monitored in the coming months.
The implications in Canada
We will have to remain on the lookout for intercommunity tensions and the way in which this event will affect the Canadian political landscape. Although the Sikh diaspora is large at 770,000 people and this constitutes a key electoral issue, Canada is home to one of the largest Indian diasporas with a total of 1.4 million people, all religious denominations combined.
India accuses Canada of harboring members of an extremist and terrorist movement for the creation of Khalistan. It is true that Sikh mobilizations in Canada were very violent and did not receive much media coverage.
However, it is not just the Sikh communities that are politically active in Canada. On November 9, 2022, an article was published in The Press in reaction to a flag raised in front of the Canadian Parliament for Hindu Heritage Month in Canada by Liberal federal MP, Chandra Arya. This flag is the official banner of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a very active far-right Hindu paramilitary faction closely linked to the BJP and Modi. Even if this flag is full of meaning, once again this incident will not have had much coverage in the media.
While we must pay particular attention to the rise of hate speech, we must also not be blind to discursive strategies. For example, we have seen the emergence in Canada in recent months of the qualifier “anti-India” or, in English, “ Hinduphobia », to refer to social movements which criticize the Indian government. This conflation between the Hindu nation and the Indian state is very problematic and has the effect of stigmatizing anyone of Indian origin who opposes the Indian government.
Exacerbation of tensions and call for solidarity
India is taking up more and more space in global geopolitics and the global economy. She is a key player in American security strategy in the Indo-Pacific. In Canada’s strategy for this region, it is identified because of its enormous potential for economic growth.
However, too little attention is paid to the socio-political situation in the country and to Modi’s populist governance. Canada needs to think about how it wants to cooperate and collaborate with a country led by a right-wing Hindu nationalist government that is responsible for the crumbling of Indian democracy.
Since the announcement by the Canadian government of the dismissal of an Indian diplomat, the media of this country have reported the frustration of its population. The Indian government takes the opportunity to reiterate the support of certain Western states, including Canada, for the Sikh independence movement which threatens the Indian state — and the creation of its Hindu Rashtra.
With the upcoming federal parliamentary elections taking place, 2024 will be an important year for Indian democracy. Mobilizing nearly a billion people to vote is a tedious and important exercise, especially in a context marked by social, religious and political tensions. Added to the expected diplomatic ruptures, this electoral context has the potential to exacerbate violence.
Whatever happens, we must remain in solidarity with Indian and Canadian-Indian people, who must in no case be lumped into any orthodoxy.