Justin Trudeau in India: Without trademark Modi hug, Canadian PM gets a ‘cold shoulder’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is on a week-long state visit to India, didn’t receive a warm welcome by PM Modi with his trademark hug.

Instead, Modi government sent the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Gajendra Shekhawat to receive the visiting premier at the Delhi airport.

Prime Minister Modi has started a trend of personally receiving visiting government heads and welcoming them with his trademark hug.

Recently, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India, PM Modi, breaking protocol, himself went to the airport to receive him.

Many, including Canadian media, has interpreted the indifferent welcome to Trudeau as a "snub".

It has been two days since Trudeau is in India but Narendra Modi could not fetch time to meet the visiting premier.

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From taking a swing with Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping at the Sabarmati riverfront to flying kites with Israeli PM Netanyahu, Modi has accompanied most world leaders during their visit to his home state Gujarat.

However, PM Modi was absent when Justin Trudeau, with family in tow, was trying his hands on a traditional ‘charkha’ or spinning wheel during his visit to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Not just by PM Modi, Trudeau was also “cold-shouldered” by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Yogi, who personally received Netanyahu during his Taj Mahal visit, did not go to greet Trudeau, neither he accompanied the visiting Canadian PM during his visit to the Taj Mahal on Sunday.

The reason behind India’s “snub” to Canadian Premier could be the fact that some of Trudeau’s Ministers were hobnobbing with Sikh separatist – Khalistan movement members – who wanted a separate homeland for Sikhs.

Trudeau’s cabinet has four Sikh ministers who openly gel with Khalistanis and were said to be their “sympathiser”.

The lukewarm welcome to Trudeau can backfire and hamper the significant 2015 deal, in which Canada agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes of Uranium to power India’s atomic reactors.