The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday hit out at the Canadian Prime Minister for referring to artist Diljit Dosanjh as a “Punjabi singer” instead of “Indian singer” in a social media post.
The Canadian PM made a surprise appearance at Diljit Dosanjh’s concert at the Rogers Centre in Toronto where he praised the singer for his achievements. Several videos of Justin Trudeau’s meetup with Diljit surfaced on social media.
However, Trudeau’s post on X about the encounter sparked controversy when he referred to Dosanjh as “a guy from Punjab”. People asked why the Canadian PM didn’t refer to Dosanjh as an Indian artist.
Trudeau also shared pictures on his Instagram page and praised Canada for being a diverse country.
However, his comments did not go down well with many in India. BJP’s National Secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa slammed Trudeau for his “wordplay”.
“The concert of Diljit Dosanjh was good…The picture posted by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau with Diljit made us all feel very proud…Later when he (Canadian PM Justin Trudeau) expressed his feelings for Diljit Dosanjh, he did not even think that it was right to take the name of India. A Prime Minister should not have done this as the post of Prime Minister has a very big dignity. He should have maintained that dignity and tweeted accordingly,” Sirsa said in a video message.
Prior to this, he also replied on Trudeau’s post and called his not naming of India as a “deliberate mischief through wordplay.” “Let me correct this, Mr. Prime Minister- where one guy from INDIA can make history and sell out stadiums. Your gesture of lauding a fantastic artist like @diljitdosanjh has been totally overshadowed by your deliberate mischief through wordplay,” Sirsa said on X.
Social media platforms were also filled with comments critical of Trudeau, who hasn’t been on good terms with the Indian government. India has several times called out Trudeau’s government for not cracking down on Khalistani elements in his country.
Relations between the two countries have been tense since Trudeau’s allegations of potential involvement of Indian agents in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in September last year. Back then, New Delhi had rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd and motivated”.
Prior to this, he also replied on Trudeau’s post and called his not naming of India as a “deliberate mischief through wordplay.” “Let me correct this, Mr. Prime Minister- where one guy from INDIA can make history and sell out stadiums. Your gesture of lauding a fantastic artist like @diljitdosanjh has been totally overshadowed by your deliberate mischief through wordplay,” Sirsa said on X.
Diljit Dosanjh made history by becoming the first Punjabi artist to headline concerts in both the Canadian stadiums — Vancouver’s BC Place and Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which have the seating capacity of over 54,000 and 49,000, respectively.
He later shared photographs and videos from his sold out performance where fans can be seen screaming and dancing with joy as he takes to stage.
He also shared the video of Trudeau’s visit with his 21.7 million followers on Instagram ahead of his concert. In the video, Trudeau and Dosanjh can be seen greeting each other with folded hands, which is then followed by a tight hug.