International: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hit out at Canada after receiving a diplomatic communication on Sunday suggesting that Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats are "persons of interest" in an investigation there. India stroingly rejected the "preposterous imputations" and accused the Trudeau government of using "vote bank politics" for deliberately smearing New Delhi.

In a tersely-worded statement, the External Affairs Ministry said since Canadian PM Justin Trudeau made allegations against India regarding the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in September last year, the government in Ottawa had not shared a shred of evidence with India despite several requests. "This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains," it said.

"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. 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," it added.

India defends diplomat in Canada, warns of 'further steps' 

The MEA also slammed Trudeau of propagating an anti-India separatist agenda for narrow political gains and said he has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada. "All these activities have been justified in the name of freedom of speech. Some individuals who have entered Canada illegally have been fast-tracked for citizenship," it said.

The ministry also came out in defence of High Commissioner Verma, saying he was  India’s senior-most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years and the aspersions cast on him by the Canadian government "are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt".

"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. India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats," it said.

No thaw in India-Canada relations

The strong statement from India came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Laos, almost a year after his Canadian counterpart accused India of involvement in the death of a Canadian Khalistani separatist. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News) said Trudeau described the meeting as a "brief exchange".

"I won't go into details about what we talked about but what I've said many times is that the safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government and that's what I'll stay focused on," Trudeau told a press conference at Vientiane. However, sources claimed that there are "no substantive discussion between the two leaders in Vientiane". 

It is worth mentioning the relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Indian-origin Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd". India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.