India’s Ministry of External Affairs has come down heavily on the Justin Trudeau government over the latter’s bizarre stance on Freedom of Speech. The development comes after the Canadian government banned Australia Today hours after it aired the press conference jointly addressed by the Foreign Ministers of India and Australia. In the joint press conference with Australian FM Penny Wong, Jaishankar addressed the ongoing India-Canada diplomatic row and Khalistani extremism in Canada.
The Trudeau government has been deliberately ruining ties with India to appease its Khalistani vote bank. However, the MEA expressed ‘surprise’ over the Trudeau government’s decision to ban an Australian outlet. The MEA noted that the Australian news outlet has been blocked and is no longer available for viewers in Canada. Subsequently, it slammed the Trudeau government emphasising that the move highlighted Ottawa’s hypocrisy on freedom of speech.
So nice to meet my friend DPM & FM @ABZayed of UAE in Canberra today.
🇮🇳 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/wVttutjQSL
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) November 6, 2024
In its weekly press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, has been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Penny Wong…We were surprised. It looks strange to us. But nonetheless, what I will say is that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech.”
Jaiswal further added, “EAM Jaishankar highlighted that political space was being given to anti-India elements in Canada.” He told, since the minister criticized Canada today, Canada blocked the Australian channel
The news agency ANI quoted Jaiswal saying, “You would have seen that EAM in his media engagements, spoke about three things. One was Canada making allegations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence. The second thing he highlighted was surveillance of Indian diplomats happening in Canada, which he termed as unacceptable. The third thing that he highlighted was the political space that has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that, why the Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada”.
