“Gap between actions and words…”: MEA slams Justin Trudeau for ‘inaction’ against anti-India elements

Highlighting the inaction of the Canadian government against anti-India elements, the Ministry of External Affairs said there exists a gap between the words and action of PM Justin Trudeau, while he claims of supporting ‘One India’ policy.

The diplomatic row between India and Canada underwent a fresh escalation when Canada labelled India’s High Commissioner and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in the investigation of Nijjar’s death.

Following this, India decided to call back its High Commissioner and five other diplomats from Canada.

“So we have seen those comments of Prime Minister Trudeau that he believes in one India policy. But so far, the actions that we have requested against anti-India elements who actually go against one India, who call for dismemberment and disunity of the country, who spouse separatist ideology. No action has been taken,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in weekly briefing on Thursday.

“So you know in a sense there is a difference. There is a gap between action and words here,” he added.

“We have seen comments of PM Trudeau that he believes in One India policy, but so far the actions we have requested against anti-India elements, no action has been taken. There is a gap between actions and words here,” the MEA spokesperson further said.

Regarding the diplomatic fallout, the MEA stated that India had summoned Canada’s acting High Commissioner and conveyed concerns about the safety of Indian diplomats.

“We had summoned the acting High Commissioner of Canada and thereafter conveyed that we had no faith that the Canadian govt will look after the safety of our diplomats and therefore we had taken a decision to withdraw our High Commissioner and along with him 5 other diplomats, after that, there was a communication from Canadian side asking them to leave but we had withdrawn our diplomats before their decision,” Jaiswal said.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, admitted that his government had not provided India with any hard evidence but just intelligence regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.

Testifying at Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau said India has been insisting on evidence over allegations levelled by Canada.

“Behind the scenes (were trying) India to co-operate with us. Their ask was…give us the evidence you have on us. Our response was it is within your security agency. You should be looking into how much they know, you should be engaging… ‘No, no but show us the evidence’. At that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let’s work together…,” he said.

Meanwhile, responding to Trudeau’s statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Justin Trudeau “only confirms” what India has been saying “consistently all along.”

“The MEA also held Trudeau’s “cavalier behaviour” responsible for damaging India-Canada relations.

“What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along – Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone,” he added.

The ties between India and Canada soured after Trudeau alleged in the Canadian Parliament last year that he has “credible allegations” of India’s hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India has denied all the allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated” and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.

Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.