TL;DR: Canada's recent report accused India of meddling in its 2019 and 2021 elections. India has dismissed these claims, stating that Canada has been interfering in India's internal matters. The report also highlighted China's involvement, but found no significant impact on election outcomes.
Canada's public inquiry report has stirred the pot by alleging that India tried to interfere in their 2019 and 2021 elections. The report claims that India used its officials and proxies to meddle in Canadian politics. But guess what? India isn't having any of it! The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shot back, saying it's actually Canada that's been poking its nose into India's business. They even pointed fingers at Canada for issues like illegal migration and organized crime.
The Canadian report didn't just stop at India; it also called out China for similar shenanigans. However, it concluded that these foreign interference attempts didn't mess with the actual election results. Still, such actions have chipped away at public trust in the electoral system.
In response, the MEA firmly rejected the report's insinuations about India. They emphasized that it's Canada that's been meddling in India's internal affairs, leading to problems like illegal migration and organized crime. The MEA expects that Canada will stop supporting systems that enable such illegal activities.
This isn't the first time India and Canada have been at odds. Back in September 2023, tensions rose when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that Indian agents might have been involved in the killing of Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nijjar. This led to both countries expelling senior diplomats and India temporarily halting visa services for Canadians. Although visa services resumed later, the diplomatic chill remained.
The Canadian public inquiry, which kicked off in September 2023, was mainly looking into China's and Russia's roles in their elections. But by January 2024, they decided to throw India into the mix and started digging for related documents. The final report pointed fingers at India for allegedly trying to influence Canadian politics through financial means and other tactics. But the kicker? There's no solid evidence that these attempts actually swayed any elections or that Canadian politicians were even aware of them.
The report also touched on the long-standing tension between India and Canada over the Khalistan movement. India feels that Canada hasn't taken its concerns about Khalistani separatism seriously since the 1985 Air India bombing. The report noted that India doesn't seem to differentiate between lawful pro-Khalistan political advocacy and the small number of Canada-based Khalistani extremists.
In the end, while the report found these foreign interference attempts troubling, it concluded that Canada's democratic processes are still going strong. There might have been a few isolated cases where meddling had some impact, but nothing that seriously affected their institutions. The report did, however, call out the Canadian government for sometimes being slow to respond to these threats and for not always communicating effectively about them.
So, while Canada is pointing fingers, India is standing its ground, and the diplomatic dance between the two continues.
