Reacting strongly against Justin Trudeau led Canadian government for calling Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats ‘persons of interest’ in a case, India slammed it while terming the allegations “preposterous imputations”.
“We have received a diplomatic communication from Canada yesterday suggesting that the High Commissioner and other diplomats are persons of interest in a matter related to an investigation in that country. The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political a of the Trudeau Government that is centred around vote bank politics,” MEA said in an official statement.
“High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is India’s senior most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years. He has been Ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him by the Government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt,” it added.
Ties between India and Canada have been thorny ever since Justin Trudeau alleged India’s involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Khalistani terrorist, in June 2023.
India, however, has repeatedly refuted these claims as “absurd” and “motivated,” accusing Trudeau’s government of indulging in vote-bank politics by pandering to pro-Khalistan elements within Canada.
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Bilateral ties worsened after Justin Trudeau made brazen allegations against India
The Narendra Modi government has said that Justin Trudeau’s hostility to India had been long known.
“Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence. In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort. His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India,” it said.
“His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard. That his Government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-à-vis India, only aggravated matters. Under criticism for turning a blind eye to foreign interference in Canadian politics, his Government has deliberately brought in India in an attempt to mitigate the damage. This latest development targeting Indian diplomats is now the next step in that direction. It is no coincidence that it takes place as Prime Minister Trudeau is to depose before a Commission on foreign interference. It also serves the anti-India separatist agenda that the Trudeau Government has constantly pandered to for narrow political gains,” it added.
Referring to Canada’s allegations in relation to Nijjar, the MEA said the country hasn’t shared a shred of evidence with New Delhi.
On the pretext of an investigation, the Justin Trudeau government was running a smear campaign against India, it added.