Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a politician with the maple charm offensive. He lives up to his image of a suave, caring and likeable man. He is able to connect with people. In this era of people not being too enamoured with politicians, the Canadian Prime Minister seems to be the exception. And to top it all, he even made it to the cover the iconic Rock magazine, the Rolling Stones.
Shere-e-Punjab Trudeau. That’s what the millions of Sikhs in Canada called him after his long picnic in India, where he defied all protocols meant for conventional heads of states, and became one among the many celebrity tourists, with his wonderful wife, and wonderful two little sons, dressed in a kaleidoscope of designer Indian traditional dresses, sharp colours as a reminder of the vivacity of Indian handloom and craft, scoring multiple photo-ops, print and visual space in the Indian media.
He defied protocol. He was both enduring and endearing to the Indian people, especially the glitterati. He went to various religious places, to put his multicultural, multi-faith, multi-religious and secular public positions on record. He avoided the political class, well, almost, until he met Narendra Modi almost on the eve of his departure. That meeting too became a roller-coaster ride, because his youngest son, still a lovely toddler, decided to roll on the carpet with stunning glee, even as the immaculately dress Indian soldiers giving the family a guard of honour, watched with great amusement and delight. He surely made them his fans too, as did his wife and sons. He did not hug Modi. That was a crucial departure from the run-of-the-mill hugs floating all over the world since Modi has drafted his unique ‘hugging’ foreign policy, with many heads of state, reluctantly pushing their bodies away.
Shahrukh Khan and other celebrities met him with grace and great warmth. Shahrukh Khan did not meet hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike Amitabh Bachchan. That was a clear message.
Others too met the Sher-e-Punjab. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnis. The charge that he was tacitly backing erstwhile Khalistanis, who have taken refuge in Canada, just did not stick. The rock star threw his kid up in the air at the Taj Mahal in Agra, hundreds of cameras clicking, and no dignitary to accompany him as protocol, and he had already become a heartthrob of both India and expatriates in Canada. Trudeau knows his charm. And with ‘family values’ thrown in, he is more charming than many politicians in the world, especially the ageing, doddering, caught in multiple sex episode accusations, including scores of assaults and acts of misogyny and brazen machoism: Donald Trump.
As perhaps the youngest secular and liberal prime minister of a huge, liberal country, Trudeau is far ahead in his rock star ratings across the global landscape: leaving Vladimir Putin, Xi Jin Ping, Angela Merkel, even Emmanuel Macron far behind. Surely, Narendra Modi does not stand a chance.
Said a Vancouver-based Indian academic, talking to this reporter: “Indeed, the Khalistan tag was absurd. In Canada, it was used by the conservative media to racialize and stigmatise Canadian Sikhs, and by the media in India to build a binary of anti-nationalist minority and nationalist Hindus. 'Liberal Hindu' media and news establishment always turn Hindu nationalist when it comes to the identity of the religious minorities in India.”
Wrote The Atlantic: “No doubt Trudeau is firmly cast in the neo-liberal framework, but the Canadian Labour party and Trudeau have also kept the discourse on multiculturalism, social justice and antiracism alive. I think Trudeau was deliberately humiliated by the Modi establishment. The Hindu Right has no say in Canadian politics, unlike the Hindus for Trump in the US. Canadian Sikhs remain relentless in seeking justice for the 1984 Sikh victims of the genocide, and they are badly pissed off by the Hindutva Indian establishment’s attempt to tarnish their image and the image of Canadian Sikh cabinet ministers.
Sikhs have a glorious history of fighting discrimination and structural racism in Canada. And, to pigeonhole them into racial stereotypes, will not be taken kindly by them. Let us also remember that more than 1,000 Sikhs in Surrey signed a petition for the release of Saibaba, the alleged, 90 per cent physically handicapped Delhi University academic, and the Gurdwaras provided space to facilitate this signature campaign. No Indian journalist talks about it. Finally, it is obvious, there are no Gujju Adani, Ambani investments in Canada.”
Trudeau has smiled his way through India, however, meeting with business executives, signing billions of dollars worth of business deals, posing for photographs actors, and donning Indian attire befitting his own Indian wedding reception. The Indians, for their part, have denied the Canadian prime minister is being snubbed (one unnamed official went so far as to call it “protocol”). But a snub it is — and the diplomatic brush-off has its roots in an Indian separatist movement from the 1980s and present-day Canadian domestic politics.”
Trudeau has been accused of playing the Barack Obama nice-guy-who-doesnothing-card in Canada when it comes to tricky issues. His positions on climate change, global warming, and fossil fuels are cited. His record on the indigenous people ghettoized in the reservations is not great. His neo-liberal stance on various issues irks the socialists in his own party.
And, yet, when Trump declared no refugees or immigrants will be taken in America, or allowed to enter, even with a valid visa, Trudeau said: Come one and come all. You are most welcome.
He went to the airport to receive Muslim refugees from the middle-east. He took the child from a woman wearing a hijab, a big smile on his face, once a picture which stimulated a thousand claps. That he is admired for his good looks, or that he ‘drops in’ in a procession against racism, or in support of gay rights, or fighting against racism, wearing socks with a message: oh, the masses love him more for that. The rock star cares a damn for the selfie. The camera and the mobiles are eternally ringing to record his charm and message.
A student of literature and education at McGill University and the University of British Columbia, and a young, promising teacher, who took up social causes as a youth leader in the Liberal Party, often following up in the footsteps of his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau took a tough stand in the midst of the clampdown by Trump on visas for certain Islamic countries, which was later shot down by several courts in the US. That found him allies in Europe, the middle-east, and Asia. His party’s stand on racism is equally significant and radical. Witness this open declaration.
“Diversity is one of our greatest strengths and has contributed significantly to our country. We recognize the need to counter all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and we are taking action to address the ongoing challenges and discrimination that still exist in our society,” said Simon Ross, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. “We will also be consulting with Canadians to develop a national strategy to combat racism in Canada, and we look forward to speaking with experts, community organizations, citizens and interfaith leaders to find new ways to collaborate and combat discrimination as we develop this strategy,” he said.
In India, the civil society, undoubtedly wanted more of this man and his family, with his lovely kids. That got quite a bit of them in his reasonably long, nondiplomatic stay, across many towns and cities of the country. ‘Next time,” said a professor, “ they should just enter a metro and sing a Canadian song.