Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Gujarat on Monday but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not with him, as he was during the visits of other world leaders like Xi Jinping, Shinzo Abe and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister is instead visiting Karnataka, where elections are due in a few months. Justin Trudeau will meet with PM Modi on Friday for bilateral talks in Delhi. Top government sources have strongly dismissed speculation, mostly in the Canadian media, that PM Modi’s absence is a snub for Justin Trudeau amid India’s concerns over Sikh radicalism in Canada and support for a separate Khalistan state. The Prime Minister need not accompany a visiting dignitary everywhere, say sources; he was not present even when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Hyderabad on Friday. When prominent dignitaries have visited his home state Gujarat, PM Modi escorted them more often than not. Justin Trudeau’s day plan includes the traditional tour for visiting world leaders – the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar and Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram.
