Vantage | Gambler Trudeau has two options on India…

What happens when you treat foreign policy like a board game? You become Justin Trudeau.

It’s been a month since he accused India of killing a Khalistani. Since then, a lot has happened. The latest episode was last week. Around 40 Canadian diplomats left India and Ottawa was enraged. They accused India of being ‘unethical’ and ‘unreasonable’. They also called it a ‘violation of the Vienna Convention’. India rejected all of that. New Delhi’s position was based on diplomatic parity - you have ten diplomats in my country, I have ten diplomats in your country. If not exactly the same number, then at least close. But in Canada’s case, it wasn’t close. They had around 61 diplomats in India, while New Delhi had just 20 in Canada. And it wasn’t just about the number, it was also about what these Canadian diplomats were up to. Now, this diplomatic tussle will hurt people on both sides. Canada has stopped visa services at three locations. They have warned of a backlog. India stopped visa services last month itself citing security issues. If diplomats can’t go to work, how can they approve visas? Hence the suspension. But India’s foreign minister emphasised that this was temporary, if things improve, visa services could resume. In fact, minister Jaishankar said he was hoping for it. So, it’s now up to Justin Trudeau. He’s like that losing gambler at the casino who made a massive bet, thought he had the right cards but then his fortunes changed. Trudeau has two options now: he can cut his losses and leave the game or he can gamble some more. If he chooses the second option, the risk is obvious because Trudeau isn’t gambling with money, he’s gambling with political capital and for leaders that’s more important than money. Right now, everything Trudeau does is backfiring - not just with India, but everything. He recently visited a mosque in Toronto. He was reaching out to Canada’s Muslims after Israel’s attack on Gaza. In normal circumstances, that would have been fine but when you’ve just offered unconditional support to Israel, maybe not. This is how the people reacted.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was booed while visiting a mosque in Rexdale. Sources say a number of mosques and Muslim organizations rejected the PM wanting to come visit during Jumaah (Friday) prayer. pic.twitter.com/PiSiiyIdez

— Ahmar Khan (@AhmarSKhan) October 20, 2023

Just to be clear, we’re not questioning Trudeau’s Israel policy, we are questioning his methods, his timing. The same thing we said about India. Trudeau could have easily discussed this issue privately; he could have handled it diplomatically but instead he made a spectacle out of it. And the Canadian opposition is loving it. Their leader Pierre Poilievre has questioned Trudeau’s India policy and this weekend, he doubled down. He said: “He (Trudeau) is so incompetent and unprofessional that we are now in major disputes with every major power in the world, and that includes India”. That’s the charitable part, the rest is even worse: “Beijing is interfering in our country, opening police stations in Canada… Justin Trudeau is considered a laughing stock in India… President Biden is walking all over Trudeau and treating him like a doormat and slapping him around like a rag doll”. That’s the leader of Canada’s opposition. Polls say he could be the next prime minister and he says Trudeau’s handling of India is wrong. But is the prime minister listening? He is accusing India of violating basic diplomatic principles. That doesn’t sound like de-escalation. What happens next is entirely in Trudeau’s hands. He started this needless conflict, he can end it as well. And if he doesn’t his people will - at the polling booths. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.