The Canadian Prime Minister has been widely mocked during his eight-day trip to India that has been branded an “absolute fiasco” as he appeared in a series of traditional Indian outfits and at holiday-style media opportunities with his family.

Canadian media was scathing about the visit, that included a large entourage and a celebrity chef. The Ottawa Citizen said “the tone was just weird” and noted the BBC’s Ayeshea Perera’s comments that the trip “appears to be a series of photo ops cunningly designed to showcase his family’s elaborate traditional wardrobe.”

“There sure doesn’t seem to be much business to attend to. A half-day here, a meeting there, perhaps a whole day all told out of an eight-day state visit set aside for what you might call state business,” the paper reported.

The Washington Post said it was an “absolute fiasco” and Mr Trudeau had “only himself to blame.”

“How did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the world’s favourite liberal mascot — a feminist man, with movie-star good looks, a 50 per cent female cabinet and a political lexicon that has replaced “mankind” with “peoplekind” (making millions swoon) — end up looking silly, diminished and desperate on his trip to India this week?” said one opinion piece.

“I confess, from afar, I used to be a Trudeau fan-girl. But after this trip, I’ve changed my mind. Trudeau has come across as flighty and facetious. His orchestrated dance moves and multiple costume changes in heavily embroidered kurtas and sherwanis make him look more like an actor on a movie set or a guest at a wedding than a politician who is here to talk business. Suddenly, all that charisma and cuteness seem constructed, manufactured and, above all, not serious.”

Meanwhile, Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer, told Reuters: “I don’t know if Justin Trudeau thinks that international trade missions are reality TV shows, but they are not.”

The Globe and Mail called it a “tone deaf” visit on a “threadbare itinerary” that left him looking “foolish”.

Indian magazine Outlook called the family’s outfits, “too Indian even for an Indian.”

But far from just a series of fashion faux pas, the trip has been dogged with genuine outrage after it was revealed a Sikh extremist convicted of attempting to murder an Indian politician had been invited to dine with Mr Trudeau at the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence in New Delhi.

To make things worse, a picture surfaced of the man at the cenre of the controversy, Jaspal Atwal, with Sophie Trudeau, the prime minister’s wife. Jaspal Atwal is a Canadian national of Indian heritage, who in 1987 was sentenced to 20 years in a Canadian court for his part in the attempted murder of a visiting Indian state minister.

Mr Trudeau has previously been accused of being soft on Sikh extremists, some of whom want a separate homeland from India.