‘Trudeau’s hostility has long been in evidence’: India’s strong response to Canada | India News

NEW DELHI: India on Monday hit back at Canada after receiving diplomatic communication suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) called the allegations baseless and politically motivated, attributing them to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s domestic agenda and adding that his “hostility towards India” has long been in evidence.
“The government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau government that is centred around vote bank politics,” the MEA said in a statement.
“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. 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,” it added.
The MEA reffered to past events as a reminder of the strained ties between the two nations, worsened by what India sees as Trudeau’s repeated interference in its internal affairs.
The MEA accused Trudeau’s government of relying on support from political parties that openly back separatism in India. “That his government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-à-vis India, only aggravated matters,” the statement read.
The accusation from Canada comes at a time when Trudeau’s government is facing domestic scrutiny over foreign interference in its own political system. MEA alleged that Trudeau’s latest move against Indian diplomats is part of an effort to deflect attention from those allegations.
“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,” the MEA said in the statement.
The ministry said that it has taken note of activities within the Canadian high commission in New Delhi that it says serve the political interests of Trudeau’s government. “The government of India has taken cognizance of the activities of the Canadian high commission in India that serve the political agenda of the current regime. This led to the implementation of the principle of reciprocity in regard to diplomatic representation,” the MEA said.
India has also indicated that it reserves the right to take further steps in response to what it calls “concocted” allegations against its diplomats.
India-Canada relations were severely strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government’s involvement in the death of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom India had designated as a terrorist. Nijjar was fatally shot in June outside a Gurudwara in Surrey, Canada.
Dismissing Trudeau’s claims as ‘absurd and motivated’, the Indian government refuted the allegations made by Trudeau in the House of Commons. Subsequently, Canada’s expulsion of India’s diplomat prompted the ministry of external affairs to summon the Canadian envoy and expel a senior Canadian diplomat.