The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's testimony that "it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof" confirms India's statement that Canada has presented it with no evidence.
Trudeau made the testimony before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions on Wednesday. He said Canada first reached out to the Indian officials last August to "inform them of the findings and to try to work together."
"But instead of looking into the conduct of its security agencies, India only wanted to know what Canada had on them. And at that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said, ‘Well, you know, let’s work together and look into your security services, and maybe we can get that done," Trudeau said, adding the Indian response was, "No, no, no, we’re not doing that."
To this, MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Trudeau's statement confirms what India had been saying consistently all along. "Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats. The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone," he said.
In his testimony, Trudeau alleged that India rejected repeated "off ramps" to avoid a diplomatic crisis and chose to push back instead.
He said though Canada could have made things “uncomfortable” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi by going public with the allegations before the G20 summit in September 2023 in New Dehli, it chose not to do so.
On his interaction with Modi on the sidelines of the G20, Trudeau said he told Modi that Canada "knew India was involved" but Modi responded in a "usual way". Modi raised concerns about "people who are outspoken against the Indian government living in Canada that he would like to see arrested."
Trudeau said he cited freedom of speech as a fundamental freedom of Canada but was willing to "work with them on any evidence or any, concerns they have around terrorism or incitement to hate or anything that is patently unacceptable in Canada."
It was then that he decided to go public with his allegations about India’s role in late September. He said his reason to do so was to "ensure that nobody in Canada, in any communities, felt like they needed to take action themselves."