U.S. senator calls out alleged Indian assassination plots: 'not the behaviour of a respectable democracy'

India's alleged role in assassination plots across North America has drawnrare criticism inside the U.S. Congress for a nation often castas 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 allegationsof 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 allegationsin 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 threatenor harmpolitical dissidents abroad.

Kaine made extended remarkstoward the end of the hearing. Aformer vice-presidential candidate, the Virginia Democrat began reading from anarticle 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 notedwith interesthow dismissive India had been after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first made allegationsthat India was connected to the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjarin Surrey, B.C.

Kaine contrasted that with India's response to U.S. allegations that an Indian official was involved in a failedeffort 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 themetaphorical 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 concernand 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 presidentof Freedom House, which produces the annual index Freedom in the World.

Theindexrecently downgraded India from its category of free countriesto partly free countries, with a sliding score across several criteria. Thisdecline has been seen in numerous countries, including the U.S.

WATCH | U.S. indictment alleges multiple India-linked assassination plots across North America:

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

9 months ago

Duration 12:27

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.

Abramowitzsaid his group sees two troubling trends. One is authoritarian governance spreadingin 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.