Why India’s souring relations with Canada could have wider implications for the west | Chietigj Bajpaee

If true, a state-sponsored assassination in British Columbia would suggest a new, brazenly aggressive foreign policy from New Delhi

Canada has not yet offered any definitive evidence of Indian complicity in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia in June. The prime minister Justin Trudeau's recent parliamentary statement noted credible allegations" of a potential" Indian link to the assassination. But putting aside the veracity of Canada's claims, the downturn in Indo-Canadian relations points to signs of a more assertive Indian foreign policy.

India has been in the geopolitical spotlight over the past year, as evidenced by it hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month. It has surpassed China in population and the UK in GDP. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has received a red-carpet welcome in several capitals, most notably Washington in June. The contrast between China's struggling economy and forecasts that India will be the world's fastest-growing major economy this year could not be starker.

Dr Chietigj Bajpaee is senior fellow for south Asia at the thinktank Chatham House