U.S. senator calls out alleged Indian assassination plots as ‘not the behaviour of a respectable democracy’

India’s alleged role in assassination plots across North America has drawn rare criticism inside the U.S. Congress for a nation often cast as a growing American ally.

It was mentioned several times during a hearing on transnational repression held Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, where lawmakers mostly focused on human-rights abuses by China, Russia and Iran.

The hearing included what might have been the most detailed denunciation from any high-profile U.S. politician since allegations of Indian-backed killing plots.

“We often say we’re the oldest democracy in the world — and India’s the largest democracy,” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said during a meeting of the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee. “This is not the behaviour of a respectable democracy.”

At the outset of the hearing, the committee chair, a Democrat, alluded to allegations in Canada and the U.S. that the Indian government was connected to assassination plans against Sikh separatists.

The top Republican mentioned it, too, before transitioning to the main focus of the hearing: U.S. rivals who habitually threaten or harm political dissidents abroad.

Kaine made extended remarks toward the end of the hearing. A former vice-presidential candidate, the Virginia Democrat began reading from an article in the Wall Street Journal describing connections between the U.S. and Canadian assassination plots.

“It is highly, highly disturbing — to say the least,” Kaine said.

Growing geopolitical partnership

He noted with interest how dismissive India had been after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first made allegations that India was connected to the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.

Kaine contrasted that with India’s response to U.S. allegations that an Indian official was involved in a failed effort to kill an American citizen in New York City.

India has now expressed concern about the U.S. case and promised to hold some sort of inquiry, although its details are unclear. “Their comments have been a bit more reasonable [responding to the U.S. case],” Kaine said.

Then he alluded to the metaphorical elephant in the room: India is viewed as a growing geopolitical partner for the U.S. as it prepares for a potentially lengthy rivalry with China.

Criticizing India is not easy for U.S. officials. In fact, U.S. officials have made terse statements about these cases since September, expressing their concern and their support for Canada, while holding myriad meetings in private. But they have been measured in their public comments.

“It’s one thing to deal with this behaviour when it comes from a nation that we would sort of put into the adversary camp — China, Iran, others,” Kaine said. “How do we deal with this when it’s a nation we’re in partnership with?”

He asked that question of Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, which produces the annual index Freedom in the World.

The index recently downgraded India from its category of free countries to partly free countries, with a sliding score across several criteria. This decline has been seen in numerous countries, including the U.S.

U.S. indictment alleges multiple Indian assassination plots across North America

The United States charged an Indian national Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Sikh separatist leader in New York. The indictment suggests an unnamed Indian government official is tied to multiple assassination plots across the U.S. and Canada. The CBC’s Katie Simpson breaks down the indictment before former CSIS director Ward Elcock weighs in.

Abramowitz said his group sees two troubling trends. One is authoritarian governance spreading in recent years. The other, he said, is democracies backsliding.

“Clearly, India is one of the cases where there’s been this kind of backsliding,” he said, describing the overseas behaviour of the Indian state as an example of that.