A team of Canadian officials at Golden Temple in Amritsar Thursday. (Express photo by Rana Simranjit Singh) A team of Canadian officials at Golden Temple in Amritsar Thursday. (Express photo by Rana Simranjit Singh) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit Golden Temple on February 21. He is scheduled to arrive at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar at 10:30 am in a special Canadian aircraft from Mumbai. Amritsar DC K S Sangha told The Indian Express, “Canadian PM is arriving on February 21 to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. We are making all the preparations for the visit.” After a ceremonial cultural reception at the airport, Trudeau will visit Golden Temple and fly to Delhi at about 1 pm. An advanced liasoning team on Thursday visited Golden Temple in connection with Trudeau’s visit. A 50-member delegation accompanying Trudeau will include at least five ministers and about 20 members of Parliament. Ministry of External Affairs has sent two sample welcome banners containing high-resolution photographs of Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be placed at the airport and near important landmarks on the route to be taken by Trudeau’s delegation. One of the sample banners that carries the photograph of Trudeau reads: “Punjab welcomes ‘The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau’, Prime Minister of Canada” and another sample banner that carries the photographs of Trudeau and Modi reads “Long Live India-Canada Friendship”. A Punjab government functionary said the photographs were sent as “established protocol” as part of “diplomatic niceties” to ensure that only those photographs and no other photographs of the two dignitaries should be used in the welcome banners. “Protocol branch will do the needful in this regard,” the functionary said. As per the state government functionary, Punjab government was still waiting for a detailed official itinerary describing details of the exact schedule of Trudeau’s visit to Amritsar. Though Canadian ministers of Punjabi origin, for instance Harjit Sajjan, are said to be among the ministers who will accompany Trudeau during his visit to Amritsar, a state government functionary claimed that “till now, officially we do not have the names of five ministers who will accompany Canadian Prime Minister”. Punjab’s General Administration Department secretary Kirpa Shankar Saroj said, “Till now, we do not have details like names of delegations members accompanying Canadian Prime Minister.” Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is likely to welcome Trudeau at Amritsar airport and accompany him to Golden Temple. Last year, miffed at Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s alleged sympathy for Khalistani supporters, Amarinder had refused to meet him when Sajjan visited Punjab and paid obeisance at Golden Temple. Amarinder’s refusal to meet Sajjan and denying him the official courtesies had sparked a row, prompting Canada to take a note. Recently, Amarinder had welcomed Sajjan and another minister of Punjabi origin in Trudeau Cabinet, Amarjit Singh Sohi, distancing themselves from Khalistan movement in a statement to the Canadian media. Amarinder had congratulated Trudeau for creating the right kind of environment. Former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal will also welcome Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the Golden Temple. Badal said his wife and Union Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal was also likely to accompany him in welcoming Trudeau. “It is a great honour to welcome Canadian PM in whose Cabinet there are four ministers of Punjabi origin,” Badal said. For all the latest Chandigarh News, download Indian Express App

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