Canadian reporter Daniel Bordman on Tuesday said public opinion in Canada has increasingly been against the Khalistani movement, which had made the country look bad internationally and was a major factor in the deterioration of Canada-India relations in 2023.
His words were amid new protests by Khalistani radicals in Alberta against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The protests fall during the G7 summit now underway in Canada, where PM Modi is attending as a special guest among world leaders, among them U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During the Alberta demonstration, one of the protest organizers, Manjinder Singh, drew criticism for incendiary rhetoric, claiming he would “ambush Modi” and “kill India’s PM Modi’s politics.”
Speaking to IANS, Bordman described his experience at a protest as absurd. “I’ve been to an ‘Ambush Modi’ protest. They ambushed Modi. He wasn’t near them, but they were still ambushing. The Khalistanis are into batting, and normal Canadians are just terribly confused as to why they’re yelling so much,” he said.
Bordman clarified that the influence of the Khalistani movement was at its highest point during the scandal involving Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He related this to Canada's liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he alleged was infiltrated by extremists.
By the end of 2023, Khalistan was somehow in its maximum strength because you had a liberal government led by Justin Trudeau and it was heavily infested with individuals from all sorts of extremist backgrounds. Many Khalistanis, particularly in the Cabinet. And Jagmeet Singh, the minority leader, who's himself an open Khalistani," Bordman said.
He explained that this mix of political influence and extremist ideology greatly harmed Canada's foreign relation with India. "That is why Khalistan had kind of maximum power in 2023, and that created a lot of issues. That resulted in the entire Canada-India battle, disintegrated our relations with India, basically made the nation appear a little foolish, with all the guys waving swords around, ripping flags apart," he explained.
Still, Bordman noted that there has been a change in public perception, and Canadians are increasingly aware of how disruptive the movement is.
"It feels good to know that now people are aware of what the Khalistani movement is and have a fairly negative view of it… Khalistani movement isn't well-known," he said.
Frustration has increased among common people, and many of them are raising concerns openly. In a stinging remark against Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Bordman also said, "You need someone to traffic drugs in a truck across the country, you know who to call. You need a stable country that works, do not call Gurpatwant Singh Pannun."
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