US asserts deepening ties with India; trashes report of Canada-India spat shadow

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, October 5: In an unequivocal reiteration of deepening ties with India, the US embassy in New Delhi has rejected the claims made in Politico, a news magazine, of the ambassador Eric Garcetti being concerned of the diplomatic spat between India and Canada in the wake of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau making sensational statement in parliament that “there were credible allegations against Government of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.

“The U.S. Embassy dismisses these reports. Ambassador Garcetti is working hard every day to deepen the partnership between the people and governments of the United States and India. As his personal engagement and public schedule demonstrates, Ambassador Garcetti and the U.S. Mission to India are working every day to advance the important, strategic, and consequential partnership we have with India,” the American embassy stated in a statement shared with the media on Thursday.

The Politico in an article, probing why the US is mum on Canada-India spat, had attributed a quote to Garcetti telling his team that there could be ramifications for India-US relations as well. “U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has told his in-country team that, because of the diplomatic spat with Canada, relations between India and the U.S. could get worse for a time. Garcetti also has said the U.S. may need to reduce its contacts with Indian officials for an undefined period of time,” Politico reported, quoting an unnamed official. The Politico also reported that the US department refused to react to the assessment of the ambassador in India.

Meanwhile, former Indian diplomats slammed efforts in the western media to draw a wedge between India’s relations with the US. “Highlighting speculative report about what Garcetti supposedly said when this was bluntly countered by State Department is playing games with text of article to push a personal agenda. Excerpt is intended to mislead those who may not read the full article,” posted Kanwal Sibal, India’s former foreign secretary, on X in response to a post of Derek J. Grossman, a security analyst.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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