Delhi has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “hostility to India” in a strongly worded statement after a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats. The expulsions follow a secret meeting between the Indian and Canadian national security advisers in Singapore, according to the Washington Post.
Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, and India responded by expelling the same number of Canadian diplomats on Monday (October 14) when the Canadians accused the Indians of criminal activities.
Diplomats ‘persons of interest’ in criminal investigations
Ottawa wanted to question the Indian diplomats as “persons of interest” in criminal investigations, and when Delhi refused to waive their diplomatic immunity, Ottawa expelled them. They were not expelled but brought home for their safety and security, claimed Delhi, which expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the acting High Commissioner.
The expulsions follow a secret meeting between the Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin in Singapore on Saturday, reports the Washington Post.
In a public statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs “strongly” rejected the “preposterous” allegations against the Indian diplomats and accused the Trudeau government of playing “vote bank politics”.
“Vote bank” is a South Asian term, according to the Oxford dictionary, meaning “a group of people who can be relied upon to vote together in support of the same party”.
The ministry doesn’t say whose votes the Trudeau government hopes to win by making these allegations.
But The Times of India newspaper says Trudeau needs the support of the Sikh community in elections next year.
Troubled relations
India and Canada have had strained relations since Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist, was assassinated by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple at Surrey in British Columbia, Canada, in June 2023. Canada claimed Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was killed by Indian agents.
The troubled relations boiled over on Monday when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) claimed Indian government agents had been linked to homicides, extortions and other violent criminal activities in Canada.
In total, the RCMP said 30 people have so far been charged in connection to homicides and cases of extortion, and the police alleged that some of those individuals are connected to the Indian Government.
Indian diplomats were accused of collecting information on Canadians through questionable and illegal means.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the information was fed to criminal organisations, which subsequently committed violent crimes, including killing and extortion.
Indian allegations
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, however, says that “the Canadian Government has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of India, despite many requests from our side. … This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
The ministry adds: “Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence… His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India.”
The ministry goes on to say, “[The] Trudeau Government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada… Multiple extradition requests from the Government of India in respect of terrorists and organized crime leaders living in Canada have been disregarded.”
‘Trudeau needs Sikh support’
A report in The Times of India claims: “Justin Trudeau’s aggression towards India coincides with the Canadian Prime Minister’s sliding popularity ratings at home and growing dissent against him.
“Amid complaints over the cost of living, a struggling healthcare system, and growing crime rate, an Ipsos poll showed that just 26 per cent saw Truedau as the best PM candidate, 19 percentage points below Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.”
Trudeau needs Sikh support, says the Times of India, adding, “Canada has over 7.7 lakh Sikhs, the fourth largest ethnic community, with a section backing the demand for Khalistan.”
‘Canada weak’
But Canada is weak, writes a columnist in The Globe and Mail, who notes: “New Delhi is taking a much more respectful response to allegations by the United States that an Indian official was involved in an attempted murder of a Sikh activist [in America]…
“It would seem that Canada is the weak kid in the playground being bullied by someone who is, at the same time, being very careful not to offend an even bigger kid.”
Incidentally, the Washington Post has a longer report, with more details, than Canada’s The Globe and Mail about India and Sikh extremists in Canada.
The Washington Post says: “Officials described an operational ‘chain’ in which Indian diplomats in Canada collect intelligence on alleged Sikh separatists that is then used by RAW to identify targets for attacks carried out by a criminal syndicate led by Lawrence Bishnoi, whose organization, the officials said, has an extensive presence in Canada. Bishnoi is imprisoned in India and could not be reached for comment. His organization has previously asserted responsibility for violent attacks in Canada, officials said.”
A report in the Financial Times says: “The spat with India over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a member of a separatist movement pushing for the creation of an independent Sikh state in India, is a stark example of how power relations are shifting in the world.
“Last month, [Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie] Joly revealed that Ottawa had been forced to withdraw 41 diplomats from India after New Delhi vowed to strip them of their diplomatic immunity — a threat that Ottawa said violated formal diplomatic conventions.”