Canadian PM Candidate Chandra Arya Trolled For Indian Accent, Social Media Refers To Sonia Gandhi Here's Why

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Indian-origin leader Chandra Arya was trolled online for his“thick Indian accent” after the politician announced his entry into the race to become Canada's next prime minister.

A Liberal MP from Nepean, Chandra Arya outlined his plans to make Canada a“sovereign republic” and raise the retirement age on Friday. His official video message drew sharp reactions from many social media users. Arya was even compared with former Indian National congress president Sonia Gandhi.

A Canadian journalist, Christopher Brunet, reshared Chandra Arya's video message on X and highlighted how Arya moved to Canada at the age of 43 and still became a member of parliament.

“This dude moved to Canada at the age of FOURTY THREE, speaks broken English with a thick Indian accent, and yet is somehow an MP and running to be the next Prime Minister. Imagine I moved to Mumbai, took an introductory course on how to speak Gujarati, then ran to replace Modi [sic],” read the post by Brunet on X.

Another user commented on his post and even mentioned senior Congress leader Sonia Gandh .“Have you heard about Sonia Gandhi who is an Italian by birth n after having lived in India for 50 years, can't still speak Hindi or English. She was this close to becoming the PM of India. She is currently in Member of Parliament and has been for 5 terms [sic],” read a comment.

“Problem isn't him, problem is Canadian constitution then which allows it. Also India literally elected Sonia Gandhi who was born in Italy and hardly spoke Hindi in a good accent , only coz she was married to Rajiv Gandhi [sic],” commented another user.

Another user compared the political scenario in India and Canada and wrote,“In #Canada this is easy। In #india, forget even to think such thing। You need to be religiouly baised, caste census and in last strong backing of cult community in your favour। So just forget [sic].”

“Canada needs to set stricter standards for selecting its prime minister. For example, candidates should be required to be born in Canada to ensure their loyalty to the country [sic],”

In contrast to the hate comments, another section of the internet found it reasonable for Arya to enter the Canadian PM race .

“Running and winning are two different aspects. And Mumbai is in Maharashtra Modi is from Gujarat. Indian system allows you to raise such claims if you are citizen. @AryaCanada should be rejected for his hate politics and dubious connection with outside players [sic].”

“I guess we're forgetting the basics of nation building across world. India, like Italy etc. is a civilizational state, unlike Canada, USA, etc. which are settlement states. There's a lot of emphasis about being an Indian/Italian by birth for politics in those places, not here [sic]”

Chandra Arya on Friday announced that he would join the race to be the next prime minister. The announcement came hours before his Liberal Party declared that their next leader would be selected on March 9.

Arya, the MP from Nepean, Ottawa, who was born in Karnataka, made the announcement on X ahead of the Liberal Party's meeting later in the evening. Arya was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015.

Arya is known to be a staunch supporter of Hindu Canadians. Many times, he has also clashed with other parliamentarians, including his own Liberal caucus colleagues, over his views on relations between Ottawa and New Delhi and the actions of Sikh separatists in Canada, reported The Toronto Star newspaper.

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