New Delhi: Canadian intelligence has accused the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of interfering in the 2021 federal elections in Canada through proxies to influence the country’s policy on Sikh separatists.
According to a declassified document from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) released Thursday, authorities in Canada say they believe that Government of India is one of the “two main state actors most involved” in the alleged election interference. The other country, according to the CSIS, is China.
The CSIS documents were tabled as part of the public inquiry into foreign electoral interference in Canada, overseen by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue of the Quebec Court of Appeal, which commenced its hearings in late March.
The inquiry’s original mandate was to study the Chinese and Russian interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections. The mandate was later expanded to include India in January 2024.
In a meeting between the CSIS and the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections (OCCE), it is suggested that India put effort into “individual campaigns” in the 2021 federal elections.
A declassified country summary by the CSIS said, “Government of India (GoI) officials, including their Canada-based proxy agents, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians.”
The summary added: “These activities attempt to align Canada’s positions with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with respect to how GoI perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent Sikh homeland that they refer to as Khalistan.”
The CSIS document, however, emphasised certain constraints of the intelligence shared with the public inquiry, including the fact that the summary may be incomplete, does not indicate the time of collection, may contain information that is single-sourced and may contain information of unknown and varying degrees of reliability.
The summary also may contain information that does not indicate corroboration or lack of corroboration of the information contained within it.
Meanwhile, addressing a regular press briefing on 8 February, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), had rejected the suggestion of any interference by New Delhi in Canadian elections. “We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections. It is not the Government of India’s policy to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs,” said Jaiswal.
Motivations for Indian interference
The CSIS suggested that the Government of India’s interest in Canadian elections stems from the large number of South Asians living in the country. The CSIS country summary added that New Delhi views “parts of Indo-Canadian communities as fostering an “’anti-India’ sentiment” that is a threat to India’s national security.
The two main motivations for the alleged Indian interference, according to the CSIS, are: an “attempt to align Canadian politicians and decision-makers with pro-GoI positions and policies…to counter and suppress perceived threats to India’s domestic stability emanating from Canada.”
The summary suggested that proxy agents of the Government of India may have provided “illicit financial support” to Canadian politicians to secure “pro-GoI candidates” or “gain influence” over candidates taking office.
“The Government of India had intent to interfere and likely conducted clandestine activities…Activities during the 44th General Election in Canada were centred on a small number of electoral districts,” said the CSIS summary of alleged Indian interference during the 2021 federal election.
The declassified documents submitted to the public inquiry Thursday also suggested that efforts may have been made by the governments of Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia to interfere in Canadian federal elections.
Meanwhile, a declassified “After Action Report” from the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE-TF), originally published in December 2021, said “India’s primary focus is not aimed at undermining Canadian interests per se, but rather promoting India and countering threats to Indian stability.”
The rest of the report on India has been redacted.
A July 2021 SITE-TF briefing to Canadian political parties had asserted that “India is interested in engaging its diaspora in Canada to shape political outcomes in its favour”.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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