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17-10-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: India’s main opposition Congress party has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to take all political parties into confidence regarding worsening ties with Canada a day after the two countries said they expelled each other’s diplomats.
Ties deteriorated further on Monday with the expulsions, while Canada linked India’s diplomats to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and accused the South Asian nation of a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.
Congress expected Modi to take leaders of other political parties into confidence on “the extremely sensitive and delicate issue of worsening India-Canada relations,” party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.
The row is a major deterioration of ties between the Commonwealths members already frayed after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory.
“India’s foreign policy has always been based on building domestic consensus, not on unilateralism,” Sagarika Ghose, a lawmaker of the Trinamool Congress party, which is opposed to Modi said.
Trudeau said his government had “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.”
India has long denied Trudeau’s accusations. On Monday, it dismissed Canada’s move and accused Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda”.
Canada had briefed New Zealand on the criminal investigation into violence against members of its South Asian community, Winston Peters, the foreign minister of the latter, said on Tuesday.
“The alleged criminal conduct outlined publicly by Canadian law enforcement authorities, if proven, would be very concerning,” Peters said.
The prime ministers of India and Canada could benefit politically in the short term from the unprecedented expulsion of top diplomats from each country, analysts said on Tuesday.
Canada kicked out six Indian diplomats on Monday, linking them to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and alleging a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada. India retaliated by telling six Canadian diplomats to leave.
Although the tit-for-tat move sent bilateral relations skidding to a new low, Narendra Modi and Justin Trudeau are unlikely to mind too much. Both leaders are in their third terms and face political challenges.
Analysts suggested the move could bolster Modi’s image as a hawk on national security.
“I think people will see the government of India standing up to intimidation and coercive measures applied by a developed country,” said Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s former foreign secretary. “The public will strongly back Prime Minister Modi and the government.”
In a June election, Modi suffered a setback when his Bharatiya Janata Party unexpectedly lost its majority. In his weakened position, Modi is forced to rely on regional allies to form a coalition government.
Canada is home to the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab, or about 2% of Canada’s population. Demonstrations in recent years to carve a separate homeland have irked India’s government, which regularly accuses Canada of harboring separatists.
