Modi at G7 a chance to reset India-Canada ties amid Khalistan tensions, says Josh Udall

ANI

June 11, 2025 (ANI): Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada for G7 summit. Canadian podcaster Josh Udall has seen a chance to reset India-Canada relation amid Khalistan tensions.

Transcript

00:00Mark Carney has touted himself in the last campaign here in Canada that he is the economic guy.

00:05He's the guy you call on a crisis and he's more focused on Canada's economic issues.

00:09And that's why a lot of what I'm seeing right now with him reaching out to Modi or Prime Minister Modi

00:13is really the idea that he wants to restart that relationship from an economic perspective

00:19because India is the number five economy in the world.

00:21It only makes sense to want to establish a solid economic relationship there.

00:26And so obviously we know that Prime Minister Modi will bring up the Calistani issue with Prime Minister Carney.

00:33And the issue that we're seeing here in Canada is there's not a whole lot of political will to address the Calistani issue here.

00:39And so it's going to be on Prime Minister Modi to really make his argument to Prime Minister Carney to even get him any movement.

00:45PM Carney is only focused on one thing, and that is economy and the economic relationship

00:51in terms of getting a solid trade relationship happening with anybody who isn't America right now.

00:58And so that is really where Mark Carney's mind is at.

01:01And I don't even think Mark Carney even knows much of the history of the Calistan issue

01:05and what's going on between India, Calistan, Hindus, and Sikhs in that history.

01:11I don't think he's even fully aware.

01:13And so I don't know how much political will there is going to be there.

01:16So it's going to be really the burden of the burden of truth is going to rely on Prime Minister Modi

01:21to make his argument towards Carney to make something happen there.

01:25I don't think Mark Carney fully understands the history of all this.

01:28And quite frankly, to be fair to him as well, most Canadians have no idea.

01:33They see some things in the media.

01:35We saw from Justin Trudeau and the likes of Jagmeet Singh in the past parliament,

01:39where there was a lot of like, hey, they killed a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

01:45That was the narrative.

01:47And so people don't really understand it.

01:49Specifically Canadians don't fully understand the relationship and the history that is there

01:53between Calistan and these other different groups.

01:56So there's going to be a lot of, sure, they're going to see the protests.

02:00Canadians themselves aren't going to think much of it.

02:02Of course, the Hindu community here in Canada is going to be very concerned about these things.

02:07And I've had conversations with people in that community.

02:09And yes, they are very concerned and rightfully so.

02:11But in terms of the political will of Canada, people are just going to be like, oh, I've

02:17heard something on CBC before about it.

02:19I've heard something on CTV about it, but I haven't really heard much about this.

02:23I don't see this as a threat to me.

02:25So they're not going to think much of it.

02:27So the internal workings of politics here in Canada aren't going to put much pressure

02:30on Mark Carney.

02:31Mark Carney himself will see the protests and he will dismiss it, as he typically does,

02:36to anyone who opposes him.

02:37So it's going to be, as I said, go back to Prime Minister Modi to really make clear his

02:42beliefs and what he sees.

02:43And he needs to be able to make his argument very clear to Prime Minister Karni if he wants

02:47to see any movement on the extremist side of the relationship between India and Canada.

02:52As I said, the only way that that's going to happen is Prime Minister Modi is going to

02:57have to tie a trading relationship.

03:02He's going to have to tie it since economic ties to that extradition because there is

03:06zero political will.

03:07And I'm going to be very clear with you.

03:08There is zero political will when it comes to the calisthenian issue here in Canada.

03:12No one knows anything about it.

03:14So when you hear extradition, it's like, oh, Canadians, when they hear India now, they

03:19India is the new Russia here in Canada is, oh, they're just trying to mess around in our

03:24elections, mess around in our political processes.

03:26Of course, anything that India demands, people are going to be like, they're going to shrug

03:30it off.

03:30And we're even seeing it here in Canada, where members of the calisthenian movement are getting

03:35on the CTV, the CBCs of the world, which are the big news networks here in Canada that

03:40many people listen to.

03:41And they're allowing them to say, to speak their narrative.

03:45I'm not seeing a whole lot of Hindus hopping on these networks to speak their perspective.

03:49It's a lot of calisthenians hopping on.

03:52And so Canadians are only hearing one side of it.

03:54And right now, Canadians have a, due to the work of Justin Trudeau and the likes of Jagmeet

03:59Singh in the past parliament, they've done a good job of poisoning the well of Canadians

04:04and how they view India.

04:06So again, it's going to be heavy on Modi to try and make something work if he really wants

04:10them to make that extradition happen.

04:12However, when it comes to Canada themselves, I don't think Mark Carney's likely to move on

04:15it.

04:15I think it's a big thing for Canada, because as we've seen, the last time Prime Minister

04:20Modi came to Canada was 10 years ago.

04:24And that relationship between him and Justin Trudeau was very tenuous.

04:27And what we saw here in Canada was we had a minority government.

04:32And it was upheld by the likes of Jagmeet Singh, who was leading the NDP party at the time.

04:37And what happened there is, I suspect, this is more just me looking into it, was that Jagmeet

04:45had a huge influence on Justin Trudeau's decisions on how he treated India.

04:52And we know that Jagmeet Singh, you know, had his own dicey past in terms of the groups

04:57that he was connected to, allegedly.

05:00And so there were some conversations there that, like, maybe there was something there

05:05why Justin Trudeau took such a heavy hand against India.

05:07So now that Trudeau is out of the way, Jagmeet Singh is out of the way, we have this quote

05:12unquote new parliament.

05:13This is going to be Mark Carney.

05:15This was a gesture from Mark Carney to like, hey, we're going to restart this trading relationship.

05:20Let's forget what's in the past.

05:21Let's move forward to what is ahead.

05:23And that's why I say this is also Modi's opportunity to have those conversations to try

05:28and tie what he wants from an extremist perspective in terms of the Calistani group and tie it to some

05:35economic outcomes with his relationship with Canada.

05:38We're seeing it here in the G7, inviting Prime Minister Modi to Canada.

05:42That is what they're doing.

05:44That is going to be, it'll be interesting to hear the conversation and what comes of that

05:48meeting between Mark Carney and Modi to be able to kind of develop some trading relationships,

05:52develop some positive outcomes for both countries.

05:55And this right now, what we see here in late June, this is the moment.

06:00And however this goes is how it's going to dictate the relationship moving forward.

06:05If it goes well, well, India and Canada will come closer together all of a sudden.

06:09And it might be a long game for Prime Minister Modi to get everything he wants.

06:12And it's going to be a long game for Mark Carney to get everything he wants.

06:15But this is going to be the start of that relationship.

06:17And if that first meeting goes well, this will be a positive moment for both countries moving forward.

06:21And it's going to be a positive moment for both countries and countries moving forward.

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