India, Feb. 18 -- An Indo-Canadian candidate running in the Ontario provincial election has attracted negative attention as offensive social media posts attributed to him have come to light.

These posts related to the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023, and a homophobic slur against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Viresh Bansal, the Liberal Party candidate from the riding of Oshawa, apparently made these comments in 2023, though his X and Facebook accounts now appear to have been sanitised.

The first, a response to New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh accusing India of involvement in Nijjar's killing, said, "You can thank India for cleaning trash people."

It ...