India isn’t meddling in Canada’s affairs, in fact it’s the reverse: MEA
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, February 8
India has tried to turn the tables on Canada by counter-accusing it of interference in its internal affairs.
“We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections. It is not the Government of India’s 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 related to the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Not our policy
It is not the Government of India’s policy to interfere in the democratic process of other countries. — Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson
“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,” said 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 the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Signals Intelligence, National Security Adviser’s office and Intelligence Adviser 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.
