Indian opposition pushes Modi for discussion on worsening Canada ties

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's main opposition Congress party has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to take all political parties into confidence regarding worsening ties with Canada a day after the two countries said they expelled each other's diplomats.

Ties deteriorated further on Monday with the expulsions, while Canada linked India's diplomats to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and accused the South Asian nation of a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.

Congress expected Modi to take leaders of other political parties into confidence on "the extremely sensitive and delicate issue of worsening India-Canada relations," party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.

The row is a major deterioration of ties between the Commonwealth members already frayed after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory.

"India’s foreign policy has always been based on building domestic consensus, not on unilateralism," Sagarika Ghose, a lawmaker of the Trinamool Congress party, which is opposed to Modi, said in a post on X.

Trudeau said his government had "clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety."

India has long denied Trudeau's accusations. On Monday, it dismissed Canada's move on the inquiry (what inquiry is this?) and accused Trudeau of pursuing a "political agenda."

Canada had briefed New Zealand on the criminal investigation into violence against members of its South Asian community, Winston Peters, the foreign minister of the latter, said on Tuesday.

"The alleged criminal conduct outlined publicly by Canadian law enforcement authorities, if proven, would be very concerning," Peters said in a post on X.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)