Canada Confronts India Over Alleged Assassination

<p><i>Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence.</i></p><p>The relationship between two democratic allies fell to its lowest point in history this week, after Canada accused India of assassinating a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June.</p><p>Mujib Mashal, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief, explains this stunning accusation — and what India’s reaction to it tells us about the era of its leader, Narendra Modi.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/mujib-mashal">Mujib Mashal</a>, The New York Times’s bureau chief for South Asia.</p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/world/canada/canada-india-sikh-killing.html?smid=pc-thedaily">said agents of India</a> had assassinated a Sikh community leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot in British Columbia in June.</li><li>Mr. Nijar was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/world/canada/who-is-hardeep-singh-nijjar-india.html?smid=pc-thedaily">a prominent advocate</a> of the creation of an independent Sikh nation that would include parts of India’s Punjab State.</li><li>The charge, which the Indian government has strongly rejected, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/world/canada/hardeep-singh-nijjar-killed.html?smid=pc-thedaily">may fuel a rift</a> between Canada’s Sikhs and Hindus.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>