India-Canada relations nose dive, No thaw expected in near future

The relations between India and Canada, which was home to a large number of people of Indian origin, have nose-dived following allegations by prime minister Justin Trudeau that there is credible evidence to link the murder of the Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar to the Indian agents.

Indo-Canadian relations had started looking up after prime minister Narendra Modi had visited Canada and met the then Canadian PM Stephen Harper in April 2015 and the two leaders hailed the relations between the two countries and coined a new slogan ‘’New Vigour, New Steps’’.

Modi had then also thanked Harper for changing the course of the Indi-Canadian relationship.

A close scrutiny of the relations between the two countries reveal that there had been ups and downs in the same over the past few decades. Canada’s reactions to the nuclear tests by India and the bombing at an Air India plane by alleged Khalistani activists have marred the relations between India and Canada in the past.

Interestingly these ups and downs never however affected the bi-lateral trade between the two countries and Canada had also attracted a large number of Indian students as well as migrants looking for a better future.

Experts believe that the current tension between India and Canada could have a cascading effect on other fields as well though some others differ. The current value of the bilateral trade between the two countries stood at around 8 billion US dollars. India mainly imports cerals from Canada.

Canadian companies have invested heavily in India and the pension fund investment alone was more than millions of dollars.

Besides a large number of Indian students studied in Canada. Whether the current tension will impact the same also is remains to be seen.