India strongly rejects charges of interference in Canadian elections, says rather Canada has been interfering in its internal affairs

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, February 8

India has tried to turn the tables on Canada by counter-accusing it of interference in its foreign affairs.

“We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections. It is not Government of Indian policy to interfere in the democratic process of other countries,’’ said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal when asked about Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission requesting the Canadian Government to collect and produce documents relating to alleged interference by India in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

“In fact, quite the reverse, Canada has been interfering in our internal affairs. We have been raising this issue regularly with them. We call on Canada to effectively address our core concerns in this regard,” added Jaiswal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had ordered an investigation after the report.

The Foreign Interference Commission’s collection of documents was a precursor to the first round of public hearings to examine whether classified national security information and intelligence should be disclosed to the public. Top spies from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Signals Intelligence, National Security Advisor’s office and Intelligence Advisor Dan Rogers had deposed.

The Canadian Government had set up the Foreign Interference Commission just before Trudeau departed to India for the G20 summit where he allegedly confronted PM Narendra Modi with allegations of Indian interference in the June 2023 murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.