India has termed Ottawa’s allegation of Indian interference in the Canadian election process as “baseless”. At a press briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal flipped the allegation around, claiming that it was Canada that has been meddling in India’s internal affairs.
“We have seen media reports of Canadian Commission inquiring into foreign interferences… We strongly reject 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. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs,” Mr. Jaiswal said. “We have been raising this issue regularly with them and we continue to call on Canada to take effective measures to address our core concerns,” he added.
India’s relationship with Canada has been in a nosedive since last September, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian agents of being involved in the murder of a pro-Khalistan figure in the province of British Columbia.
Mr. Trudeau had set up an independent commission last year to look into instances of Indian interference in previous Canadian elections. Subsequently, the commission has urged the Canadian government to share information about Indian interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. In a statement issued last month, the federal commission alleged that foreign powers have the resources to interfere in political process in Canada, and asked for supporting materials from Ottawa.
