Prime Minister Narendra Modi became one of the first leaders in the world to congratulate Mark Carney and his Liberal Party for winning Canada's parliamentary elections. This marks the first gesture or acknowledgement from the Indian government towards Canada since the strained bilateral ties left by the Justin Trudeau administration.
In his message to Mr Carney, who is set to continue as Canada's prime minister, PM Modi wrote he looks forward to working with the new leader of Canada. He underscored that India and Canada are "bound by shared democratic values, a steadfast commitment to the rule of law, and vibrant people-to-people ties", adding that together they can "strengthen our partnership and unlock greater opportunities for our people."
MENDING FROSTY TIES
The bilateral ties between India and Canada are at its lowest point ever after a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries over Justin Trudeau's policies, which directly threatened India's national security, as Mr Trudeau, then prime minister, helped promote extremism, hatred, and separatism under the garb of "freedom of speech and expression" - something India strongly disapproved.
The situation worsened when Prime Minister Trudeau's administration did not act on complaints by Indian diplomats and high commission workers who were being threatened by extremists. The final nail in the coffin was when Trudeau's administration started blaming the Indian High Commissioner and other staff over the killings of pro-'Khalistan' terrorists, calling them "persons of interest" in the investigation, and later declaring them 'persona non grata' as India recalled them.
In a tit-for-tat move, India and Canada expelled senior high commission staff and reduced the overall number of diplomats in both countries. Since then, the ties are in a deep freeze.
TRUDEAU GONE, REASON FOR HOPE
But with Trudeau stepping down last month, giving way to Mark Carney, the latter said that are opportunities to mend the ties with India, who he said is an important ally. He had said last month that should he remain prime minister after the federal polls in April, he will seek to improve ties with New Delhi.
The Liberal Party, which has now been elected for a third consecutive term in office, will have to make a significant shift in policies laid out by Justin Trudeau in its endeavour to fix the Canada-India relationship.
India too, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, aims to "strengthen our partnership" with Canada. With Mark Carney's Liberal Party inches away from a majority government, the new prime minister would likely not need the support of Jagmeet Singh's New Democratic Party, which has a history of propagating the 'Khalistan' separatist ideology.
'KHALISTAN' IDEOLOGY REJECTED
Jagmeet Singh stepped down today as the leader of the NDP after a humiliating defeat in his own stronghold of British Columbia. Far from a win that he was hoping for, he came in a distant third in the race, with his party also suffering a crushing loss across Canada.
His party has been reduced to single digits and would no longer be able to arm-twist a minority government like it did the last time.
