EAM Jaishankar says 'vote bank more powerful than rule of law' in Canada amid Khalistan separatist row

Amid an ongoing war of words with Canada, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to support separatism.

In an interview with PTI on Thursday, Jaishankar said that the Canadian government, by allowing political space to Khalistani separatist elements, is sending a message that its vote bank is "more powerful" than its rule of law.

"We cannot, for the good relations, overlook that," said the minister.

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"If you have people whose presence there is itself on very dubious documents, what does it say about you? It actually says that your vote bank is more powerful than your rule of law," the minister told PTI.

"In any rules-based society, you would imagine that you would check people's background, how they came, what passport they carried, etc," said the minister, wondering how people with dubious backgrounds are being allowed to enter and live in Canada.

The external affairs minister also said that Canada's response to India's concerns was that it had freedom of speech.

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"Whenever we have taken this up with the Canadians..it is not a new issue... It has been going on almost for 10 years, and they keep saying, 'Oh, we have freedom of speech'."

Emphasising that India also has freedom of speech, the minister added, “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to threaten foreign diplomats. Freedom of speech does not mean this kind of space which is also given to people of various dubious backgrounds -- people associated with organised crime and so on.”

Earlier this week, reacting to the criticism of the Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government after three people were arrested in connection with the murder of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that Jaishankar was entitled to his opinion.

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Moreover, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated that their job was to protect Canadians. She also stood by Canada's allegations that a Canadian was killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents.

On Thursday, India reiterated that Canada had shared no evidence to back its allegation.