Rex Murphy
February 23, 2018
1:05 PM EST
Rex Murphy: What does it take to not be invited to dinner with Trudeau?
Diplomatically speaking, the Atwal incident was like coming off the ski jump, head down, without a helmet, and meeting the ski lift coming up
Everyone agrees our prime minister is both elegant and stylish. How well he looks and dresses is the prime well of his confidence. But this week’s Passage Through India was a struggle between self-parody and narcissism in which, alas, both sides won. Mr. Trudeau showed up in India with more costumes than a Vegas chorus line on a 50-state tour.
From the Taj Mahal to the Golden Temple, in the foreground of the splendours of Indian architecture and belief, Justin and Sophie offered a pose in every conceivable Indian fashion but (thank Shiva) the dhoti. Judging from the PM’s apparel the point of this Canadian trade mission was to bring India to India. An uncomfortable redundancy one might assume. But perhaps not incidentally a wonderful opportunity to harvest a propaganda stockpile for future Diversity is Our Strength Liberal campaigns among the diaspora: a Niagara of selfies, instagrams by the bushel, glossies for posters yet to come, and film for Imax rallies yet to be called.
Hence the fashion show. Dull old Stephen Harper used to just visit countries; Justin Trudeau goes abroad to wear them.
Now wearing a costume of the country just once or twice might be seen as a laudable sprinkling of style and cultural awareness. But two or three “Indian” costumes a day, from head to toe all glitter, crimson and gold, was ladling out the multicultural sugar by the vat load. Vanity Fair (naturally) offered the details of one stop that gives a taste of the full immersion: “Trudeau’s wife, Sophie, wore a cream sari, his daughter, Ella-Grace, wore a lehenga choli, his sons, Xavier and Hadrien, wore a pyjama kurta set, and Trudeau himself wore an elaborate sherwani.”
On a trade mission nothing, just nothing says “Buy Canadian” like your elaborate sherwani and a cool lehenga choli. They’re on discount at Winners stores from Port Hawkesbury to Kamloops.
Mr. Trudeau varied his image with the dexterity of a chameleon in a paint factory gifted with the taste of a peacock. Even so, it should be fair to wonder if it is wise for a prime ministerial visit to open itself up to being confused with a badly mistaken remake of The King and I.
There were, thankfully, other matters. I am not a master of protocol but I do know a person who is on all aspects from dress to security (he managed the visit to Newfoundland by Diana, Princess of Wales). I sought him out for his wisdom. On security he told me the rules were few but urgent. Top of the list was “keep invitations to noted assassins at a minimum.” The guiding principle here was the fewer assassins, would-be or otherwise, the better. None was regarded as optimum.
Thus it was quite the shock late in the week when one Jaspal Atwal was found on the guest list for the prime minister’s dinner at the Canadian High Commission. Mr. Atwal has a demonstrated eagerness for thuggery and (attempted) assassination, and the criminal record to prove it.
He is an energetic sort. In 1985 he attacked the splendid and courageous Ujjal Dosanjh, beating him with an iron bar. Mr. Dosanjh, brave man that he is, had spoken out against Sikh extremists and earned for his efforts 88 stitches to his head, besides other injuries. In 1986, Atwal abandoned the iron bar and went, with three of his friends, for an upgrade to the gun.
Atwal shot and wounded an Indian cabinet minister on Vancouver Island when the minister was visiting Canada for a wedding — a full but failed assassination attempt for which he was convicted of attempted murder. There’s more on the rap sheet but just this should raise the question — what does it take NOT to get invited to the prime minister’s dinner table on a trip to India? Most would question allowing him to go to Swiss Chalet for takeout.
Yet there was Atwal, despite his infamy, his assault and attempted murder, on the guest list for the big dinner at the High Commission; almost literally a spike in the punch of the entire visit.
Yes, there indeed he was, Atwal the failed assassin, showing up in photos with a handful of cabinet ministers, the wife of the prime minister, and in other pictures, preceding the visit, with all sorts of Liberal grandees and fundraisers.
It crushed the coverage of the catwalk portion of the tour. Now the news was a tad more sombre. The scandal broke the very day after Mr. Trudeau had, finally, made explicit Canada’s determination to dissociate from all efforts and spokespersons for Indian separatism, and the violent behaviour that movement has spawned and embraced. Diplomatically speaking, the Atwal incident was comparable to coming off the ski jump ramp, head downwards, without a helmet, and meeting the roof of the ski lift coming up. A week then, that began as some hybrid of Halloween in Bollywood ended up with dangerous embarrassment.
All in all it will be hard to flute this protracted trip with its bloated entourage, cultural cross-dressing and empty agenda as anything by a dimwitted and sloppy failure.
http://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-...-through-india
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