PM Modi raises issue of temple attacks in Australia with Albanese

Modi, on temple attacks, said attempts were being made to hurt ties between India and Australia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday nudged his counterpart in Canberra, Anthony Albanese, to take stern action against the elements promoting separatism in India from Australia and even resorting to vandalising Hindu temples Down Under.

Modi and Albanese had a meeting in Sydney and witnessed the signing of a migration and mobility partnership agreement between India and Australia. They agreed to build on the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which came into effect last year, and to focus on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra later told journalists that New Delhi and Canberra would hold two rounds of negotiations for the CECA in June and July. He also said that the talks on the CECA had progressed well within a short time after the implementation of the ECTA on December 29 last year.

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Albanese said on Wednesday that the migration and mobility partnership agreement would promote the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and business people between Australia and India, expand people-to-people ties and enhance cooperation in preventing people smuggling. Modi said that the Indian community in Australia was a living bridge between the two countries and it would be further strengthened by the new agreement.

Modi told journalists after the meeting with Albanese that he and the prime minister of Australia discussed the issue of attacks on temples and the activities of the separatist elements Down Under. “It is not acceptable to us that any element harms the warm and friendly relations between India and Australia by their thoughts or their actions,” Modi said, thanking Albanese for the steps his government had taken in this regard. “And, at the same time, he assured me once again that he will continue to take strict action against such elements.”

The Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbane was targeted by the vandals, who defaced the walls of the shrine with slogans against Modi and India on March 4 last. Earlier, the Swami Narayan Temple and the ISKCON Temple in Melbourne and the Sri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs had been vandalised between January 12 and 23, with anti-India and pro-Khalistani graffiti being painted on the walls of the shrines.

The High Commission of India in Canberra has been conveying to the Government of Australia the concerns of New Delhi over the activities of the pro-Khalistan Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) Down Under.

The SFJ had held a referendum in Melbourne and Sydney in Australia on January 30 this year in order to drum up support for the secession of Khalistan from India. It had conducted similar referendums in Canada and the United Kingdom in the past.

Before leaving Sydney for New Delhi, Modi on Wednesday addressed the CEOs of the companies based in Australia during a business round table and called upon them to take advantage of investment opportunities offered by India in the domains of infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, IT, fintech, telecom, semiconductors, space, renewable energy, including green hydrogen, education, pharma, healthcare including medical devices manufacturing, mining, including critical minerals, textile, agriculture and food processing.

India’s bilateral trade in goods and services with Australia stood at $27.5 billion in 2021, with exports of goods and services worth $10.5 billion and imports worth $17 billion. The balance of trade was in favour of Australia by $ 6.5 billion. India’s merchandise exports to Australia grew 135% between 2019 and 2021. The ECTA is expected to raise the bilateral trade volume beyond $70 billion in the next five years, according to a report by the economic think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative.