Washington – “To America, With Love,” S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, signed off as he ended a challenging visit to the United States against the backdrop of Canada’s shocking allegations that New Delhi was linked to the killing of a Canadian Sikh accused of terrorist activities by India. 

If the idea was to convey that ties with the US are too broad, too deep and too wide to be affected by the Canada crisis, he succeeded, even if the problem will linger in the background for some time. Jaishankar’s main task was to shield the India-US relationship from the fallout, remind everyone of the enormous stakes and the endless possibilities. High rhetoric to the rescue, the minister used his arsenal of wit, wisdom and verisimilitude to charm audiences, school critics and inform interlocutors. And change the conversation.

He reminded audiences of the warm welcome by President Joe Biden to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the state visit in June and the extraordinary breadth of engagement on emerging technologies, space and defence. India-US relations were at an all-time high and “you ain’t seen anything yet” he told a large gathering of Indian Americans, including several senior US officials, at the residence of Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu. He waxed eloquent on how India-US ties were set to go to the moon like the Chandrayaan and beyond and how trust and comfort had grown. 

Jaishankar went on to publicly thank the United States for the “contribution, and support and understanding we got from the US to make a successful G20” in a reference to the compromise language on Ukraine which made a final communique possible.  “It may have been our success in a literal way, it was G20’s success, it was also a success of the India-US partnership.” The effusiveness was partly aimed at the many State Department and White House officials who attended the final event in the minister’s busy itinerary. The message: India remains as enthusiastic as before, let’s get on with the programme. Canada or no Canada. 

To be sure, Jaishankar discussed the Canada issue with his US counterparts, calling it “an ongoing conversation.” From his public comments, he also used the meetings to tell them a few unpalatable truths about their neighbour and ally. From US statements, indications are the Americans agreed not to rock the India relationship any further after their initial statements of support for Canada which had no mention of India’s security concerns about extremism.

The big picture where the other “C” -- as in China -- looms large seems to have brought everyone back to earth after an adequate period of venting. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose public allegations set off an East-West diplomatic storm, appears to be walking back. He said last week he was “very serious about building closer ties with India” and that India was a “growing economic power and important geopolitical player.” 

It's likely Washington called Ottawa to dial it down even though the US provided some of the intelligence under the Five Eyes agreement on the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. The revelation sparked outrage in India about the American role in the diplomatic fracas. Some said the US may have put the Canadians up to it. Others recalled the past when a few Khalistanis and Kashmiris supported by Pakistan’s ISI created constant headaches for Indian diplomats in Washington.

But then what’s geopolitics if not a game of chess on multiple axes where many equities and interests are at play at the same time. Incidentally, the US government is yet to arrest anyone in the attacks on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco in March. It’s a law enforcement matter is how US diplomats respond when asked.

A 2021 report by the Hudson Institute says India has provided US government “considerable evidence of links between US-based Khalistan groups and militants and terrorists operating in India.” Thus far the US government has not designated any as terrorists or used terror financing laws against groups espousing separatism.

While a vast majority of Sikhs living in Canada, the US and the UK are moderates, a loud extremist fringe holds sway using gurudwaras to exercise control over the larger community.

Jaishankar used this American journey to provide much-needed context and background to US interlocutors on diaspora dynamics. Besides giving India’s point of view on Canada’s toxic domestic politics and what he called an atmosphere of “permissiveness” that prevails with regard to terrorism, violence and extremism, he used public appearances in both New York and Washington DC to drive home the point that secessionist forces were “deeply” mixed up with organized crime.

Since the US and Canada are especially close, “it’s important that they also have an accurate picture, that they have our point of view on this matter as well,” the minister said during a press briefing. He gave the US side enough to chew on. Ottawa has not moved on a single request for extradition by India despite all the legal agreements being in place.

Jaishankar told the media he was forced to suspend visa services because Indian diplomats were not safe in Ottawa. “We have had smoke bombs thrown at our mission… If this happened to any other country, how would they react to it?... And I always ask people one question, how would you react if you were in my shoes? If it was your diplomats, your embassies, your people?” And that it was happening in a G-7 country “gives you a lot to think about.”

It seems Jaishankar’s arguments went home – the Canada issue was not allowed to mar the wider US-India relationship or cast a shadow on his visit. Official US statements on his meetings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Llyod Austin focused on the bilateral agenda, security issues in East Asia and the Indian Ocean region and the upcoming 2+2 dialogue in New Delhi. In other words, on normal stuff. The Indian minister met several other top officials, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and spent time with think tankers and business leaders. 

As for the official response to Canada’s allegation, Jaishankar used public forums to push back. He stressed that targeted killing was “not the government of India policy.” If the Canadian government had “specific” and “relevant” information, New Delhi was “open to looking at it.” 

Translation: The story will continue but behind closed doors.