Justin Trudeau in a week-long official visit to India
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has already embarked on a week-long official visit to India, will be the third foreign head of government in the past six months to visit Gujarat after Japanese PM Shinzo Abe last year and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last month. Mr Trudeau will be visiting Gujarat — PM Modi’s home state — on Monday, where he will visit the Sabarmati Ashram, the Akshardham Temple and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, for an interaction with students on education opportunities. But there will apparently be one crucial difference. While PM Narendra Modi accompanied both Mr Abe and Mr Netanya-hu to Gujarat where roadshows were held, he is not scheduled to accompany Mr Trudeau to Ahmedab-ad and Gandhinagar, as per the schedule worked out. Sources confirmed that PM Modi will not be accompanying the Canadian PM to Gujarat, but pointed out that it is not necessary that he should accompany every foreign head of government who visits the state.
Mr Trudeau will be holding delegation-level talks with PM Modi this week on Friday.
Mr Trudeau, who reached India on Saturday and visited the Taj Mahal in Agra on Sunday, will be visiting Mumbai on Tuesday where he will attend a business event, Amritsar on Wednesday where he will visit the Golden Temple and will be in the Capital on both Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, he will visit the Jama Masjid in New Delhi, will visit a cricket pitch and also attend a business summit.
“While in India, Prime Minister Trudeau will engage with youth, and visit several landmarks, including the Taj Mahal, Sri Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple), the Jama Masjid, and Swamina-rayan Akshardham,” the Canadian embassy had said last month.
With the two sides set to hold talks on a wide gamut of issues, including security and counter-terrorism, India is set to strongly take up with Canada the activities of radical pro-Khalistan elements operating in Canada and is expected to express concern over such activities.
