Soon after the Lok Sabha election 2024 results were announced on June 4, world leaders started congratulating Narendra Modi for the third consecutive victory of his party, the BJP-led NDA bloc. Despite strained diplomatic ties, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wished Modi saying his country “stands ready” to work with Modi government.
Trudeau’s congratulatory message to Modi came days after a new report by a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel claimed that India was the second biggest foreign threat to the country’s democracy after China.
“Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) June 5, 2024
The report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances, was submitted to Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office in May but was tabled in Parliament this week.
The report claimed India has “emerged as the second-most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes”, displacing Russia. India’s “foreign interference efforts have slowly increased” and extended beyond countering pro-Khalistan elements in Canada.
The Canadian PM has been spearheading his country’s tirade against India over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
Trudeau’s congratulatory message to Modi
In his post, Trudeau said: “Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law.”
Narendra Modi is likely to take oath as Prime Minister of India for the third consecutive time on June 8.
Modi’s party, BJP, secured victory on 240 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in Lok Sabha polls, 32 short of majority. However, with the support of its alliance, the total seats won has increased to 293, while the Congress-led INDIA bloc won 234 seats.
India-Canada relations
Since last year, India and Canada have been locked in a diplomatic row over Trudeau’s allegation that Indian agents conspired to murder Nijjar on its soil.
The Indian government strongly denied the allegation and called it absurd and baseless.
Nijjar was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020. He was shot dead outside a Gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey in 2023.
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