Toronto: While an unnamed Canadian official blamed the revocation of Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya candidacy for the forthcoming Federal election on factors like his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, he countered by accusing the Liberal Party of taking that sudden decision because of his “firm stance against Khalistani extremism.”
The anonymous official was cited by the outlet Globe and Mail, which in a report on Wednesday, linked the revocation of the candidacy of the three-term MP to “alleged foreign-interference concerns involving India.”
The official also alluded to Arya’s meeting with Modi in New Delhi in August last year, which was not cleared with Ottawa in advance and to a briefing by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or CSIS on his alleged close links to the Indian Government and to the High Commission in Ottawa.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Arya refuted those allegations, as he said, “As a Member of Parliament, I have engaged with numerous diplomats and heads of Government, both in Canada and internationally. Not once have I sought – nor been required to seek – permission from the Government to do so.”
“The sole point of contention with the Liberal Party has been my outspoken advocacy on issues important to Hindu Canadians and my firm stance against Khalistani extremism,” he stressed.
Arya also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during that visit to India. ““As the outgoing Canadian High Commissioner in India said a few months back ‘in the long-term, Canada’s strategic interest and India’s strategic interest are absolutely aligned.’ Economic relations, specifically Canadian investments in India are going strong,” he posted on X at the time, referring to the statement of Cameron Mackay, who was still last summer Canada’s top diplomat in India.
While the accusations against Arya were raised on Wednesday, his meetings were public since August last year and he was nominated as the ruling party’s candidate for the riding of Nepean in Ontario. He was the first elected Federal politician to visit India since then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023, that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia three months earlier.
Relations further cratered in October last year when Ottawa asked New Delhi to waive diplomatic immunity for six officials posted in Canada so they could be questioned in connection with violent criminal activity in the country. India refused and instead withdrew the six diplomats and officials and, in retaliation, expelled six Canadian diplomats.
He was a vocal critic of the pro-Khalistan movement in Canada and the sole MP to raise concerns over it in the House of Commons.
He was attacked by pro-Khalistan groups like Sikhs for Justice or SFJ. In July last year, its general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun wrote a letter to then Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc demanding Arya’s disqualification from the House.
That month Arya’s name was also spraypainted as part of graffiti desecrating the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton last month. He was called a “Hindu terrorist.”
The revocation of Arya’s candidacy conveniently came a day before Prime Minister Mar Carney was announced as the Liberal Party candidate from Nepean. Carney did not comment on the matter on Wednesday citing the terms of the security clearance he had.
In January this year, Arya was barred from participating in the race to select the next leader of the ruling Liberal Party.
“This decision raises significant questions about the legitimacy of the leadership race and, by extension, the legitimacy of the next Prime Minister of Canada,” Arya said, in a statement at the time.
No reason was attributed for the disqualification, though the agency Canadian Press cited a Liberal Party spokesperson pointed to a section of the national leadership rules which bars a candidate if they were deemed to be “manifestly unfit for the office”.
The agency added that could be “due to public statements, past improper conduct, a lack of commitment to democracy, or other reputational or legal jeopardy,” as per the rules.
