Parliamentarians from Punjab from all political stripes pleaded with the administration to find solutions as the diplomatic dispute between India and Canada became more heated and raised issues for Indians living in Canada. The state is home to a significant share of people who move to the nation in North America, whether to study or to work.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, the head of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and a Lok Sabha member of parliament (MP), met with Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday. He claimed to have received a deluge of frightened phone calls from Punjabis living in Canada asking for the SAD’s assistance. After the meeting, he remarked, “The people of Indian heritage residing in Canada have been impacted by the present situation between India and Canada…There is a growing sense of fear among the populace. India’s government has to resolve this issue quickly. Amit Shah, the home minister, has my request.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu also requested that he “personally intervene” to safeguard the safety and well-being of Indian students studying in Canada. Indian students made up the biggest cohort of the over 551,000 new foreign students that came to Canada in 2022, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), with 226450 students. As of December 31,2022, up to 319000 Indian students were already residing in Canada, according to the IRCC.
Bittu said in a letter dated September 20 that Indian students would experience “social discomfort” as a result of the diplomatic dispute, which might harm their “overall well-being and sense of security in Canada.” By shielding the large number of Indian students studying in Canada from any potential repercussions of the strained diplomatic relations with Canada and by assisting in the restoration of mutual trust and goodwill between the two countries, Bittu said, “I shall be extremely grateful if you could personally intervene in the matter and ensure the well-being and sense of security of the students.”
However, the Congress MP criticized Justin Trudeau of Canada, asserting that “99.5%” of Indians who reside there disapprove of the “activities of the pro-Khalistani elements who run drug cartels and donate money to Trudeau’s party.” But thousands of Indians, especially those from Punjab, who have relatives in the state or abroad and wish to live quietly are our main worry, said Bittu.
Captain Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister of Punjab and current head of the BJP, refuted accusations made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday that Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani activist, was killed outside a Surrey Gurdwara in June of this year with an Indian hand.
“It was very reckless for the prime minister of a nation to make a claim without any backing only to appease the vote bank crowd. It was an undeniable reality that the anti-Indian elements in Canada had a free hand during the Trudeau government, according to the former chief minister of Punjab.