India-Canada row: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says One India is Canada’s policy, but Delhi attacked Ottawa government

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “One India” has always been his government’s official policy in order to defend India’s “territorial integrity”, but Delhi responded by attacking Ottawa and “undermining the integrity of our democracy”.

The Prime Minister’s remarks on Wednesday while testifying before the country’s Foreign Interference Commission came amid the ongoing India-Canada row, that escalated earlier this week with New Delhi recalling its top envoy to Ottawa and expelling six Canadian diplomats.

At the deposition, he also admitted that his government had only “intelligence and no proof” against India in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in British Columbia last year, further drawing India’s condemnation.

“‘One India’ is the official Canadian policy, and the fact that there are a number of people in Canada who advocate otherwise does not make it Canadian policy, but also does not make it something that is illegal in Canada,” he claimed.

He, however, claimed that the Indian government’s response towards Ottawa, especially through the media, was “instead to attack Canada and Canadians”.

Trudeau further alleged that India also undermined the Canadian government, “and, quite frankly, the integrity of our democracy”.

The Prime Minister said it was only in the interest of public safety to let the Canadian people know that authorities had information about allegations linked to Nijjar’s murder, as well as the fact that the police had started investigations.

“But India’s response to these allegations and our investigations was to double down attacks against Canada, this government’s integrity and also to arbitrarily eject dozens of Canadian diplomats over absolutely no cause, other than to say, ‘we don’t like what you said’.”

Trudeau stressed that he did not want to be in a situation of “picking a fight with a significant trading partner with whom we have deep people-to-people ties and a long history and our fellow democracies”.

As he intensified his attacks against India even further, the Prime Minister said that “Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians who are opponents or in disagreement with the Modi government”.

He claimed that the information was first passed to the highest echelon of the Indian government, after which it would be directed through criminal organisations like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be used in violence on Canadian soil.