– Reshma Ravishanker

The video of a senior Canadian woman allegedly asking a man of Indian origin to return to his country has surfaced on social media amid a strained and escalating India-Canada diplomatic relationship.

The woman in question, a senior citizen, engages in a conversation with an Indian origin man mistaking him to be a student.

In the viral video, the Canadian citizen is seeking that a man, who she believes is of Indian origin, get out of her country. The video which has been circulated on social media shows an Indian origin man recording a senior Canadian national who mistook him to be a student and seeks that he leave her country.

“There are too many students here,” she complains in the video even as the man explains that he is a Canadian citizen and not a student. “Your parents are from India; your grandparents are from India. It is a crime when there are so many Indians taking over Canada and Africans taking over Canada,” the woman says. The man however, reasons that he has done no bad to her and that it is “unCanadian” to harass people unprovoked. 

https://x.com/shahidsiddiqui/status/1847999380436996204?t=_PyybTTXWGfVxQQhQaDxgA&s=19

The strained diplomatic ties between India and Canada amid an escalating row has left Indian students aspiring to study at Canada in second thoughts and experts have expressed concerns over their job prospects.

Rohin Kapoor, Partner, Education and Skilling, Management Consulting, BDO India said, “Indian parents and students consider expenses towards foreign education as an investment towards a better life through permanent residency/citizenship status. If there is any negative impact on employment and immigration, its attractiveness takes a significant hit. To realise their dreams of sending their children overseas to study and finally settle, parents in India save for many years & sometimes lose their hard-earned savings to unauthorised agents. The geopolitical tensions tend to have a negative impact on such movements with tit-for-tat reactions expected in visa issuance, the rollout of offers and public sentiment which may have a direct bearing on providing physical safety for students. With foreign universities now permitted to set up campuses in India, it is advisable for students and parents to weigh all options before finalising the destination.”

Meanwhile, MP Karti P Chidambaram said that sober diplomacy is needed now. “India has many of our citizens studying there and many of Indian origin also live in Canada. There is significant trade between the two countries. We cannot take impulsive decisions that mar our diplomatic relationships. But some serious allegations have been made by the Canadian Police about India using non-state actors, particularly a gangster, to eliminate people who have separatist tendencies. These allegations must be dealt with directly, answered and if false, must be clarified,” he added. 

Also read:

Mohan Babu University faculty among world’s top 2% scientists in Stanford/Elsevier List