Reminiscing about the past few months of “downs and downs,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made fun of his own trip to India at the press gallery dinner in Ottawa on May 26, calling it a “trip to end all trips.”
Greeting the audience with a ironic “namaste” to general laughter, Trudeau ran a slideshow of his “special moments” from his trip to India in February, that received quite a coverage in both the countries, and across the world. Before the presentation of the slideshow, Trudeau said: “That’s it for this year.. nothing else happened.. we didn’t go to India.”
Referring to the presentation, he said to general laughter that he had repressed his memories of the India trip until his staff made the slideshow.
“The beginning of the end” slideshow, that featured a sad emoticon on the first slide, opened with a map of India shown upside down and a picture of Trudeau getting a “very warm welcome” from Gajendra Singh, the Indian Minister of State for Agriculture. The reception by a junior minister led to Indian and Canadian media speculating whether this meant a snub by the Indian administration.
When the picture of him wearing a colorful sherwani with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was dressed in all black, emerged, Trudeau commented: “One of us is very underdressed.”
Trudeau’s Indian attires, which subjected him to much mocking by the media, were once again in the limelight in a picture where he was seen meeting Infosys CEO Salil Parekh. “And here I am, meeting with the CEO of Infosys, a company that, for the record, announced new investments in Canada during the course of this trip. But you guys didn’t report on it — because I was wearing a shirt and tie. Boring,” he said.
The slideshow ended with a photograph of Sophie Gregoire Trudeau in a sari alongside former convict Jaspal Atwal, whose presence created a controversy in both the countries. “The media could not stop talking about this picture,” Trudeau quipped. “Such a beautiful dress.”
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Atwal’s presence at the event in Mumbai caused a stir in Canada, with the then National Security Adviser Daniel Jean attributing his presence to “rogue elements” in the Indian establishment, a comment he later had to issued a clarification on. Atwal’s presence was made possible because his name figured on the guest list prepared by Surrey Center MP Randeep Sarai.
Trudeau also mentioned it in his address. “Randeep Sarai was in-charge of the guest list tonight, so just watch your backs,” he said.
To conclude the slideshow, Trudeau said, “That was India – the trip to end all trips.” He added: “Seriously, I have told my staff, I am not going anywhere ever again.”
The Canadian PM’s trip was called “as bad as his Bhangra moves” by National Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh. “My biggest concern was that he would turn Canadians off Bhangra,” Singh said during his address at the event.
Singh, who offered to teach all those present “some nice Bhangra moves,” broke into the traditional dance on popular Punjabi number Mundeian toh bach ke rahin with a few Canadian leaders onstage.
Singh also referred to the stories surrounding his position on the Khalistan movement, saying, “My staff was really worried that I am just going to bomb it. And I told them, ‘Relax. I denounce terrorism in all its forms’.”