NEW DELHI, Oct 30: India's interior minister Amit Shah, accused by Canada of being behind plots to target Sikh separatists in that country, has been Prime Minister Narendra Modi's closest aide for decades and is widely seen as his hard-nosed alter ego and potential successor.
Shah's office and the Indian foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the accusation. India has previously denied any role in the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the alleged targeting of other dissidents there, although the row has led to expulsions of diplomats in both countries.
Canada has not released any evidence of Shah's alleged role in the campaign against separatists from India's Sikh minority, which was referred to by Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison on Tuesday.
Many political analysts consider Shah, 60, the most powerful politician in India after Modi and the two, both Hindu nationalists, have been working together in national or provincial governments for more than two decades, starting with their native Gujarat state. Shah is widely seen likely to take over if Modi leaves office.
When Modi attended his first press conference in India as prime minister in 2019, he made a brief statement but took no questions, pointing to then-ruling party president Shah sitting by him.
"I am a disciplined soldier (of the party), the president is everything to me," Modi said, referring to Shah.
Shah, renowned for campaign strategy, has led Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to election victories across the country, propelling the party to political dominance from near-obscurity. In 2019, Modi named him as the head of the all-powerful interior or home affairs ministry.
"As a vigilant and alert administrator, Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah considers weak and lumpy security to be a major obstacle in the development of society, country and state," Shah's website says.
It says he was falsely implicated in 2010 in the extra-judicial killing of a "dreaded terrorist" when he was the state home minister in Gujarat, following which he resigned and spent three months in jail. A court acquitted him in 2014. —REUTERS