Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday congratulated Narendra Modi for his coalition’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and said that Ottawa stands ready to work with New Delhi to advance the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Trudeau also mentioned “human rights” and “rule of law” – two key issues he has been stressing on ever since diplomatic tensions arose between India and Canada over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Advertisement

“Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with its government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law,” the Canadian PM’s office quoted him as saying.

Notebly, Trudeau levelled serious allegations against India that agents of the country’s government were involved in the killing of Nijjar.

The allegations in the absence of any concrete evidence triggered a massive diplomatic row between India and Canada, with New Delhi asking some of the Canadian diplomats to leave the country.

Trudeau’s congratulatory post mentioning “rule of law” and “human rights” also comes in the backdrop of a high level Canadian parliamentary panel report that considered India as the second biggest foreign ”interference threat to the country’s democracy” .

The report considered China as “the most prolific actor” and the biggest foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes”.