Amid tensed India-Canada relations, Trudeau talks of ‘rule of law, human rights’ while congratulating PM Modi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while congratulating PM Modi on his third win in Lok Sabha elections talked about the importance of the rule of law and human rights, as India-Canada relations remain locked in a diplomatic row.

Last year, Trudeau accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, after which the diplomatic relations between the two nations went downhill.

The Canadian PM in his congratulatory post to Modi said that his country is ready to work with the Indian 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 his 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 in a post on microblogging site X.

Trudeau’s statement comes amidst a report by a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel that said India was the second biggest foreign threat to the country's democracy after China.

Referring to the report, which was submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office in May but tabled in Parliament this week, Justin Trudeau said his government takes the matter of foreign interference “very seriously”.

While the report described China as “clearly the most prolific actor” in the context of foreign interference in Canadian democracy, it said that India is “the second-most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes”, displacing Russia.

Earlier, in February, Trudeau had called “foreign interference extremely damaging to the confidence of the people of Canada in the democratic process.”