NO BIG DEAL

India’s Modi Downplays U.S. Assassination Plot Claims as ‘Few Incidents’

He insisted the claims are not likely to affect U.S.-India relations.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken out on U.S. allegations of an India-led assassination plot on American soil for the first time, saying the claims are not likely to affect U.S.-India relations. U.S. prosecutors in November said a senior Indian official was behind a foiled assassination attempt of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York City lawyer who has pushed for the creation of an independent Sikh state. The news came two months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged India was behind the June killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada, damaging the two countries’ relationship. “If someone gives us any information, we would definitely look into it,” Modi told the Financial Times in an interview published Wednesday. “I don’t think it is appropriate to link a few incidents with diplomatic relations between the two countries.”