India’s alleged involvement in assassination plots on foreign soil and the BJP’s failure to secure a majority in Parliament despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “hate speeches” during last year’s general election campaign find mention in this year’s report of the US-based NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“Several foreign governments accused Indian intelligence agencies of targeting terrorism suspects and separatist leaders for assassination in Canada, the United States and Pakistan,” the report says.

“In October 2024, Canada’s national police service issued a public statement on the alleged role of Indian state agents in criminal activity on Canadian soil, including homicide, extortion and other violence. Indian authorities also cancelled visas or denied entry to government critics, including members of the diaspora.”

India has come under the glare of the international community after a foiled plot to kill Canadian-American lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York in 2023.

Pannun is the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, a North America-based Khalistani outfit accused of secessionist activities in Punjab and outlawed in India.

The allegations of an assassination plot against Pannun emerged shortly after outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September 2023 that security agencies in his country were probing a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Khalistani leader, in Surrey.

On Wednesday, an inquiry committee set up by the Indian government in the Pannun case recommended legal action against an unnamed individual.

Vikash Yadav, said to be a former officer of India’s external intelligence agency RAW, was named by the US in connection with the failed assassination attempt on Pannun, who has dual citizenship of the US and Canada. Yadav is currently in custody herein connection with an extortion case.

British newspaper The Guardian had last year reported allegations about Indian agents assassinating up to 20 Pakistan-based insurgents since 2020.

The HRW report also underscores Modi’s hate speech-fuelled election campaign and attributes the BJP’s below-par performance in last year’s general election to “democratic resilience”.

“In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hate speech on the campaign trail did not win him the electoral majority he craved, showing that even in the face of systemic challenges, democracy can still put a check on power,” the report says.

At a media conference to release the report in Bangkok on Friday, HRW deputy director for Asia, Meenakshi Ganguly, said: “There were elections in India in 2024 where it appeared that he (Modi) may not be as successful with his campaign of wild promises of economic benefits and so on. So, he reverted to a hate campaign.

“We analysed 173 of his election speeches of which in 110 he made remarks that targeted minorities, particularly Muslims…. It served as a dog whistle to his supporters and, in the first months of his returning to office, 12 Muslim men and one Christian woman were killed in mob attacks.”