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“I just want to say I look forward to the day, and I look forward to assisting the honorable Prime Minister Modi and the honorable Prime Minister Scheer in making this once again one of the strongest and most important relationships in the world.”

The comments came as a surprise to Sikh groups, who argued there was a much different tone during Harper’s 2012 visit to India. He told reporters then his government was “completely supportive” of a united India, but defended freedom of expression and the right to peacefully support an independent Khalistan.

“It’s a complete departure,” Balpreet Singh, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organzation, said of the speech. “It really does fly in the face of the same values he defended as prime minister.”

Photo by @narendramodi/twitter

Singh said he also found it “highly disturbing” that Harper was celebrating his party’s links to the BJP, given growing reports of persecution against non-Hindu minorities in India.

Harper’s remarks were also not a factual account, added Jatinder Singh Grewal of Sikhs for Justice, a group spearheading an unofficial referendum on independence in India’s Punjab state next year.

As prime minister, he engaged repeatedly with Sikh leaders who favour Khalistan, and with members of Sikhs for Justice itself, said Grewal.

“He did support us … I met him twice.”

A spokesman for the Conservative caucus could not be reached for comment on whether Scheer endorses Harper’s remarks.

Party sources not authorized to speak on the record said the Tories would likely not go as far as the former leader, but noted the party opposed interfering in the internal politics of another country.

Grewal said he sees little evidence the Conservatives are preparing to take an anti-Khalistan stance on the election trail, though suspects New Delhi is attempting to create the impression parties are lining up on either side.

“We see the Indians trying to create this divide, a false narrative,” he said. “Having this divide within Canadian society is what India is trying to fuel. It’s very dangerous.”