The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada, opposition parties, including the Congress and the CPI(M), have urged the ruling BJP-led Union government to take them into its confidence in the national interest.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, who had earlier said his party hoped the Modi government would take the leaders of opposition in both houses of parliament as well as other political parties into its confidence regarding Canada’s allegations, said on Wednesday (October 16) that the opposition ought to be “fully informed” as “safeguarding India’s global standing is a shared responsibility”.
“Allegations made by Canada, now backed by several other countries, are threatening to escalate, tarnishing India’s global reputation and damaging Brand India. It is imperative that the government of India promptly and clearly articulate its stance on this issue,” he said.
Ramesh added: “Our nation’s international image as a country that believes in and adheres to rule of law is at risk, and it is crucial that we act together to defend it. On matters relating to national security and foreign policy, the nation must always be one.”
Relations between India and Canada touched a new low after Ottawa’s allegations that Indian government agents were involved in killing a pro-Khalistan activist in Canada in 2023. India and Canada on Monday expelled six of each other’s diplomats, including their top envoys, amid an unprecedented escalation of the diplomatic row.
The Canadian government had a few days ago named Indian high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma and other diplomats as ‘persons of interest’. They were subsequently expelled after India refused to waive their diplomatic immunity and cooperate with the Canadian authorities’ probe into a “targeted campaign against Canadian citizens” by Indian government agents.
Canada’s Five Eyes allies, the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, have also since reacted to the allegations and called them “extremely serious”.
TMC MP in the Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose said that “any other government would have fallen” if faced with such allegations.
“The head of another government and its police publicly accuse the Modi-led government of shocking criminal activity on its soil, and no one is supposed to ask for answers from the non-biological PM,” she said on Wednesday in reference to the the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s statement Monday that Indian government agents were involved in criminal activities in Canada.
“Why have India-Canada relations been blown up? What is Lawrence Bishnoi’s role? A supine cowardly Indian media will keep trumpeting loyalty, but any other government would have fallen under these explosive revelations,” she wrote on X.
The CPI(M) in a statement said that Canada’s allegations have been a matter of “serious concern” and have a “direct impact on national security”.
It said that the “Government of India is duty-bound to protect the national interest for which it has support across political parties in India. The allegations levied by various official authorities of the Canadian government against India have been rejected by the Government of India.”
“It is to be expected that the Government of India will take the opposition parties into confidence on these issues including the allegation made about the role of the Lawrence Bishnoi criminal gang,” it added.
In a statement on Monday (October 14), Congress MP and general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that his party hoped that the Narendra Modi government would take the leader of the opposition and other political parties into confidence in both houses of parliament “on the extremely sensitive and delicate issue of worsening India-Canada relations”.