oppn parties Trudeau Provokes, 'Absurd', Says India

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Trudeau Provokes, 'Absurd', Says India

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-09-20 03:14:14

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

India's relations with Canada were always good. But under the Justin Trudeau administration, they have become strained. The latest allegations by Trudeau, on the floor of the Canadian parliament, that they have found 'credible allegations' of the involvement of agents of the Indian government in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar (a designated terrorist in India) in Canada in June, have strained them further. India has rightly dismissed the allegations as "absurd". But Canada went ahead and expelled a senior Indian diplomat, resulting in a tit-for-tat from India, taking relations between the two countries to a new low.

This has come immediately after PM Modi had impressed upon Prime Minister Trudeau the need to restrain Khalistani elements in Canada when the two had met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi recently. It is clear that Trudeau is under pressure from the vocal and influential fringe elements in the sizeable Sikh community in Canada. It may be that Nijjar's killers were from India. But it is also true that Sikh separatist politics abroad is highly divided. It could be the handiwork of one or more groups who did not like Nijjar. To accuse the government of India of ordering a killing in Canada when the police have not arrested a single suspect even after 3 months is incomprehensible.

Trudeau must understand that Canada's relations with India cannot be hijacked by the fringe elements in the Sikh community there. Domestic compulsions must not cloud Trudeau's views on this. He has in the past also unnecessarily commented on Indian domestic matters like the farmers' stir. Although he has said the evidence will be shared "in due course" and the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand (part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance along with Canada) have called the allegations serious and demanded further probe (but they refused to issue a joint statement), Canada jumped the gun by making allegations and expelling a diplomat before the probe was completed and it was ready to share the evidence. India must stand firm but both countries must take steps avoid further escalation.