Amid India-Canada strain, Justin Trudeau mentions ‘rule of law, human rights’ in congratulatory post for Narendra Modi

Canada stands ready to work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Justin Trudeau, the country’s prime minister, said on Thursday morning in his congratulatory message on X.

The Canadian PM’s post came days after a report by a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel concluded that India was the second biggest foreign threat to the country’s democracy after China.

Justin Trudeau, who has been spearheading Canada’s tirade against India over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, said the country is ready to work with the Modi government to advance relations “anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law”.

“Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with its government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law,” his office quoted him as saying.

Canada and India are locked in a diplomatic row over the former’s allegation that Indian agents conspired to murder Nijjar on its soil. New Delhi called the allegation absurd and baseless.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party in India’s general elections, which concluded on June 4. The BJP won 240 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, registering a significant drop in the number of seats (303) it won in 2019.

The BJP fell 32 short of a simple majority, forcing it to rely on its National Democratic Alliance partners.

Modi will likely take the oath of office on June 8.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot dead outside a Gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey last year.

Meanwhile, referring to the report, Justin Trudeau said his government takes the matter of foreign interference “very seriously”.

The report was submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office in May but tabled in Parliament, with redactions, this week. It described China as “clearly the most prolific actor” in the context of foreign interference in Canadian democracy.

The report added that India has “emerged as the second-most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes”, displacing Russia.