- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE United States has strongly rejected claims that the ongoing diplomatic spat between India and Canada over prime minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations against the Narendra Modi government over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader will worsen ties between New Delhi and Washington DC.
The US embassy came up with a denial after a report in Washington-based Politico titled ‘Why Biden’s mum on India-Canada spat’ quoted an official as saying that US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti told his team that India-US ties “could get worse for a time”. It also added that the US diplomat had remarked that the US “may need to reduce its contacts with Indian officials for an undefined period of time”.
“The U.S. Embassy dismisses these reports. Ambassador Garcetti is working hard every day to deepen the partnership between the people and governments of the United States and India. As his personal engagement and public schedule demonstrates, Ambassador Garcetti and the U.S. Mission to India are working every day to advance the important, strategic, and consequential partnership we have with India,” a statement issued by the US embassy in India said.
While India and Canada have locked horns in a diplomatic tussle following Trudeau’s accusations that New Delhi had a role in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder in Surrey in British Columbia in June, the US has approached the matter with caution since it is a close ally to both the sparring countries. It, however, has said that the Canadian government’s allegations need to be investigated.
India called the allegations “absurd” and “motivated” and even suspended issuing visas to Canadian citizens and asked Ottawa to withdraw more than 40 diplomats from its soil.
Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke to US secretary of state Antony Blinken during the former’s recent visit to Washington last month. The Indian diplomat also discussed the matter with US national security advisor Jake Sullivan, John Kirby, coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, had confirmed.
“We’ll certainly leave it to those two countries to talk about their bilateral relationship. We’ve been clear, these allegations are serious, they need to be fully investigated and of course, as we’ve said before, we urge India to participate actively in that investigation,” Kirby had said.
The Washington Post had recently reported that Canadian officials had sought public condemnation of Nijjar’s murder from its allies, including the US, ahead of the G20 summit held in New Delhi in September, but found them hesitant.
