#India#Canada#Mark Carney#Justin Trudeau#IndiaCanadaTies
IBNS-CMEDIA: Days after Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister, India Friday blamed Justin Trudeau for “the downturn in India-Canada relations” owing to the “licence given to extremists” in the country.
Canada’s Liberal Party leader Mark Carney was sworn in as the country’s new Prime Minister in Ottawa last week, succeeding Justin Trudeau.
An entirely new Cabinet was sworn in on March 14 after which both Ottawa and New Delhi now hope to rebuild ties, which have hit a historic low in recent times.
Responding to a question on Canada during a weekly press briefing, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The downturn in India-Canada relations was caused by the license that was given to the extremist and secessionist elements in the country.”
“Our hope is that we can rebuild our ties based on mutual trust and sensitivity,” he added.
Shortly before taking oath as Prime Minister, Mark Carney had also expressed his eagerness in rebuilding ties with “like-minded countries”.
“What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trading relationships with like-minded countries – and there are opportunities to rebuild the relationship with India. There needs to be a shared sense of values around that commercial relationship, and once I am the prime minister, I look forward to the opportunity to build that,” he had said.
Strained India-Canada relations
India and Canada’s tussle was triggered after ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian officials of being involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India had then expelled six Canadian diplomats and asked them to leave the country after Ottawa said it was investigating the Indian ambassador and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in connection with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader last year.
Canada too asked six Indian diplomats to leave the country alleging that its police reportedly got hold of evidence that they claimed to be a part of an Indian government “campaign of violence”.
The Indian government had also decided to withdraw its High Commissioner in Canada after Ottawa’s accusations which the Modi government called an act of “vote bank politics”.
However, later in a statement that left India vindicated, Trudeau had said he had no “hard evidentiary proof” to back his claims that India government officials were involved in Nijjar’s killing.
Effigies of a former Indian prime minister were allowed to be burnt, the Indian flag desecrated and disrespected, and Indian Embassy and Consulate staff and premises were threatened and attacked openly, in some of the other incidents that took place in Canada infuriating New Delhi.
Last year, Justin Trudeau also attended an event where ‘Khalistan’ slogans were raised as he addressed the gathering.
