India-Canada Standoff Picks Political Steam In Punjab

Punjab is perhaps the state most affected from the fallout of the India-Canada standoff. A large number of Punjabis aspire to go to the North American country to settle there, and the trend has gradually been picking up in the other states as well.

Analysts and observers also see these aspirations as a failure of the successive governments to provide adequate employment avenues, quality of life, and of course in some of the states, save the youth from the menace of drugs.

But in the present context the standoff has started picking political steam in Punjab given the fact that elections to the Lok Sabha are barely six months away. There is a lot of anxiety among the people, whether it is those aspiring to move out to Canada or those whose wards and relatives are already there.

In the process it is the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government under Bhagwant Mann that stands cornered. It needs to be pointed out that the AAP at the organisational level or at the government level is facing public criticism for having maintained a stoic silence on the India-Canada standoff.

The political opposition is now targeting the state government for keeping mute on the issue. A couple of days ago it was senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia who gave vent to the people’s sentiments.

He said that India’s decision to stop visas for Canadian citizens and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s silence on the issue is proving too costly for Punjabis. He opined that this decision is badly affecting the lives of thousands of Punjabis and Punjab is heading for a big economic crisis.

Majithia said that the decision to stop visas for Canadian citizens has come at a time when wedding season is about to start. It is well known that there are a large number of Punjabi families settled in Canada who are now Canadian citizens but they prefer to perform marriages in Punjab.

Apart from such families there are others who come for getting medical treatment as health care is comparatively cheaper in India. There are some who come to attend family emergencies.

Majithia expressed surprise over Bhagwant Mann for being ‘shockingly silent’ on the issue even after more than fortnight having passed since the decision was implemented to suspend the visas.

He said that India’s decision after only a single incident is providing discrimination for Punjabis and Bhagwant Mann’s silence on the issues goes to prove that “he is hand in glove with top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership” and that this “has been proved a number of times”.

Quoting data from the tourism ministry, the senior Akali leader said that statistics suggest that more than 24 percent of Canadian tourists visiting India usually come during the wedding seasons. He said that this means thousands of those who are involved in the catering business; marriage palaces and hotels, ticket bookings and tourism industry are all set to receive a big setback this season.

Those who come to Punjab to attend sports melas have also been deprived of the opportunity due to this decision. He said that thousands of cancellations were being reported in the hospitality and tourism industry, which is a cause of huge worry as it was leading Punjab towards a big economic crisis.

He urged both the nations to resolve this international issue amicably through one to one talks so that the common man can get respite and sufferings can be avoided.

The Akali attack was followed by a political assault on the ruling party coming from the Congress leadership. Questioning the silence of Punjab Chief Minister over the BJP led union government's decision to suspend visas for Canadian citizens; the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab state assembly Partap Singh Bajwa has accused the state government of disregarding the Punjabi diaspora in Canada.

Bajwa asserted that the Punjab NRIs play a crucial role in the state’s economy. He underlined that they have their businesses and ancestral property here in Punjab.

“The AAP owes an awful lot to the Punjabi NRIs. The Punjab Chief Minister and the AAP's national convener and the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should not forget that it was the Punjabi NRIs who made immense contributions to set up the AAP in Punjab.

“Why has the Punjab Chief Minister still kept mum on the issue? Does he not care about the Punjabi NRIs residing in Canada?" Bajwa asked.

He said that tens of thousands of Punjabi students migrate to Canada every year for their better future and assumed that keeping their future in mind, Bhagwant Mann must have taken up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The wedding season in Punjab is just around the corner. Like every year, Punjab will host a string of NRI weddings across various palaces and resorts here for the next five months. But the strained ties between India and Canada have left the families of brides and grooms, who had been planning big, fat weddings, worried," Bajwa added.

Citing a news report, Bajwa said that the hospitality sector in Punjab has started facing the heat of the ongoing India-Canada diplomatic row with NRIs putting off their visit to India ahead of the festival and wedding season. In the wake of the Indian government's decision to suspend visa services for Canadians, at least 20 percent of hotel bookings had been cancelled in the state, he claimed.

“Neither the AAP nor the Punjab BJP has uttered a single word to get the visa continued for the Punjabi NRIs in Canada. The AAP always toes the line of the BJP that's why it has failed to question its masters (the BJP) on the question of visa," said Bajwa.

Earlier at a public rally in Moga on September 24, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had stated that Punjabis were the worst sufferers of the diplomatic standoff between India and Canada. He had urged the central government to redress their concerns at the earliest.

“Many of our brethren need to return to their homeland immediately but are unable to do so. We are gravely concerned about the travel restrictions which are impacting Punjabis as well as apprehensions of youth that the ongoing crisis will affect their future. The issue should be redressed at the earliest,” he said.

The only time when the AAP leadership came close to mentioning Canada was during the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) at Ghana where Assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had called for better coordination among Commonwealth countries on certain political issues.

He said that some issues have been cropped up with unwarranted arguments. Without naming any country, he said that this trend should be nipped in the bud with greater coordination among Commonwealth countries.

A government spokesperson said, “Pertinently, the annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) brings together parliamentarians from across the Commonwealth to discuss global political issues and make consensus on the same. It is worth mentioning here that Canada first joined the British Commonwealth as an independent state in 1931.”

Meanwhile, observers point towards the AAP’s general tendency to keep aloof or mum on ‘nationalist issues’ which brings it the accusations of being in the same boat as the BJP.

“The AAP could have avoided touching upon the Khalistan narrative but it should have come out to address the concerns of the Punjabis. One reason for its silence can be the poll debacle it had faced in 2017 Assembly elections when the narrative of its leaders hobnobbing with hard line elements had led to the people voting largely for the Congress.

“The second reason could be its usual stand on nationalism which is not much different from the saffron fold. But Punjabis like political forces to speak for the masses and more so if the affected people are themselves,” pointed out an observer.

The cornering of the AAP leadership on the issue of India Canada standoff and its impact on Punjabis is only expected to increase in the days to come.