Amarinder Singh upset with Canada, turns down its envoy's offer for meeting

New Delhi: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has turned down Canadian High Commissioner's offer for a meeting, conveying his unhappiness over the Canadian government's refusal to let him interact with Punjabi diaspora in that country recently.

Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel had written a letter to Mr Amarinder, offering to meet him.

Mr Patel's letter came after the former Punjab Chief Minister wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protest the denial of permission to him during his recent trip there.

"Thank you for offering to meet me, or for me to meet your Consul General in Chandigarh. I do not think anything further will emerge from such a meeting as I have expressed my views in full," Mr Amarinder wrote in response to the envoy's letter.

Mr Amarinder, a Lok Sabha member, referred to the 'discriminatory approach' of the Canadian government in disallowing him from interacting with Punjabi diaspora while representatives of the SAD-BJP alliance and Aam Aadmi Party, who had gone there before him, had been allowed to hold similar meetings.

"Their interactions did not warrant any action by your government. They did their bit and returned to India. In my case, however, the matter took a different turn," he wrote.

"If, High Commissioner you have such a law, then it must be applicable to all who intend meeting with and speaking to our diaspora in Canada," the Congress leader added.

Mr Amarinder also referred to the complaint against him, saying, "I understand that this intervention against me took place on a letter written to your Ministry of Global Affairs by a known antagonist of India, a lawyer representing asylum seekers both in the US in New York, and in Toronto, Mr Gurpatwant Singh Pannu."

He added, "I however find it strange that a known anti-Indian individual's views were given precedence over an Indian MP who is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Congress) in the Parliament of India, and who is also the President of the state Congress in Punjab."

Mr Amarinder suggested to the High Commissioner that it would be more appropriate for his government to ban all such interactions for all irrespective of the party they belong to and not just a selective application as was done in his case.

"If you wish to uphold your law, alternatively please then do, liberalise them to some extent, to avoid embarrassment to a speaker or to Canada itself," he added.