When Justin Trudeau stood up in Canadian parliament last week to announce there were “credible allegations” that agents linked to the Indian government had been involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist in a suburb of Vancouver, it sent reverberations across the world.

Vohra’s only source for the information appeared to be rumours and his wife, who had apparently seen the Canadian prime minister “depressed and stressed” in Delhi airport, but that was enough for it to be presented as news on Zee network.

A show called #TrudeauBacksTerror aired on the inflammatory rightwing channel Republic TV, accusing Canada of condoning anti-India terrorist activity, while news site NDTV – owned by a businessman with close ties to the government – ran a column describing Canada as a country “of rising drug addiction and a slew of highly concerning medical policies, including medical assistance in dying”.

“The problem is Canadistan” ran the headline on a Times of India article written by former government adviser Brahma Chellaney, who alleged that “without curbing its Khalistani militancy, Canada could one day become the Pakistan of the west”.

Following India’s presidency of G20 this year and the recent leaders’ summit held in Delhi, Indian media had been awash with coverage about prime minister Narendra Modi’s growing alliances with western powers.

The rare cross-party solidarity and nationalist fervour stirred up by the incident raise the possibility that Modi could try to capitalise further on the Khalistan issue – a banned separatist movement that fights for an independent Sikh state in India – in the upcoming election in 2024, when he will be seeking a third term.

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