Foreign Minister Vinay Kwatra said India has repeatedly conveyed its “deep concerns” to Canada and New Delhi expects Ottawa to take strong action against those elements.
NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday said its main issue with Canada remains the political space provided by Ottawa to anti-India elements advocating extremism and violence.
Foreign Minister Vinay Kwatra said India has repeatedly conveyed its “deep concerns” to Canada and New Delhi expects Ottawa to take strong action against those elements.
His remarks came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Italy to attend the G7 summit.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among the leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies attending the annual summit.
“I think the main issue with respect to Canada is the political space that Canada provides to anti-India elements who advocate extremism and violence, and we have repeatedly conveyed our deep concerns to them and expect strong action from them,” Kwatra said.
“We have just concluded our general election. I am sure everyone will agree that it was the largest democratic process in human history,” Kwatra said.
The External Affairs Minister said that nearly 640 million people cast their votes in the polls and the vibrancy of Indian democracy was “truly” recognised and appreciated across the world.
“I don’t want to say anything about what anybody else thinks about how democracy works, but our democracy was on full display with overwhelming evidence,” he added.
Trudeau’s statement comes against the backdrop of elections in the European Union and India.
Many also took the comments as an indirect reference to India.
“Around the world we have seen the rise of right-wing populist forces in almost every democracy, and it is disturbing to see political parties capitalising on that anger, fear, division and anxiety,” Trudeau said.
“My approach has always been to respond to it, understand it and find solutions,” he added.
The relations between the two countries were severely strained after Trudeau’s allegations in September last year about the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nigar in British Columbia.
New Delhi dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as “ridiculous”.
India insists that the main issue between the two countries is that Canada is openly harbouring pro-Khalistani elements operating from Canadian soil.
There have been instances where pro-Khalistani elements have threatened to harm Indian diplomats.
Responding to a question about the vandalisation of Gandhi’s statue in Italy, Kwatra termed the incident as unfortunate and said the matter has been brought to the notice of the Italian authorities and appropriate rectification has already been done.
