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Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that what is happening in Canada, amid election campaign, regarding the assassination of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, is largely due to their internal politics and not has nothing to do with India.

Jaishankar said this while responding to a question on why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized India.

While interacting with senior journalists during his visit to Bhubaneswar, he also said that the country needs a strong and active Prime Minister like Narendra Modi to carry out further reforms in various sectors to achieve the ” Viksit Bharat” (Advanced India).

“India’s image in the world today is much better than before. Canada is an exception. You see various heads of state praising Bharat and its Prime Minister,” the foreign minister said.

He said sections of the pro-Khalistan community have used Canadian democracy, creating lobbies and becoming vote banks.

Canada’s ruling party does not have a majority in Parliament and some parties rely on pro-Khalistan leaders, he said.

“We have repeatedly convinced them not to grant visas, legitimacy or political space to these people, which poses problems for them (Canada), for us and also for our relations,” Jaishankar said .

But the Canadian government did nothing, Jaishankar said, adding that India tried to extradite 25 people, most of whom were pro-Khalistan, but did not pay attention.

Relations between India and Canada came under strain following accusations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September last year regarding the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s assassination. India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated.”

“Canada has not provided any evidence. They did not provide us with any evidence in some cases and the police did not cooperate with us either. It is a political imperative for Canadians to blame India. When elections approach in Canada, they follow their own desires. vote for banking policy,” Jaishankar said.

He said Prime Minister Modi was respected by many heads of state.

“Recently, the Prime Minister of a Pacific country touched Prime Minister Modi’s feet while the Australian Prime Minister called him ‘Boss’. “Even (US) President Biden wants to know the secret of Modi’s popularity,” Jaishankar said.