Congress backs Govt stand after Canada's allegations against India
Sep 19, 2023
New Delhi [India], September 19 : Congress has always believed that the country's fight against terrorism has to be uncompromising, said Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that India could be linked to the fatal shooting of Khalistan Tiger Force Chief Hardeep Nijjar on Tuesday.
"The Indian National Congress has always believed that our country's fight against terrorism has to be uncompromising, especially when terrorism threatens India's sovereignty, unity and integrity. Our country's interests and concerns must be kept paramount at all times," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and spokesperson Udit Raj alleged that the incident was a "diplomatic failure" of the Indian government.
"This is our diplomatic failure, this has never happened before in the past. Canada PM Justin Trudeau was here a few days ago for the G20 summit. They say that there is a buzz all over the world, everyone was accepting him (PM Narendra Modi) as a leader at the G20 summit. Then why everything is happening in the wrong way? Why has Trudeau's government made such false accusations," Udit Raj told ANI.
Canadian PM Trudeau on Monday accused the Indian government of being behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
Hailing from Bharsinghpur village in Punjab's Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey and had been declared "absconder" by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In July 2022, the NIA announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on Nijjar in connection with the killing of a Hindu priest in Jalandhar.
The Ministry of External Affairs has rejected claims made by the Canadian leadership on the killing of Nijjar dubbing the statement as aburd.
"We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister" the statement read.
"Allegations of Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated" it added.
" Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister, and were completely rejected. We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law" the statement further said.