Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised the "cowardly attempts to intimidate our diplomats" in his first comments over the deepening diplomatic row with Canada. Both countries expelled each other's top envoys last month after Canadian officials accused India of being involved in violent acts targeting Indian dissidents on Canadian soil,

The prime ministers of India and Canada condemned violence that broke out on Sunday at a Hindu temple near Toronto at a time of escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Videos posted on social media appeared to show people hitting each other with flagpoles and throwing punches in the Toronto suburb of Brampton.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday condemned the attack on a Hindu temple in Canada and described the disruptions outside an Indian consular camp an “appalling” attempt to intimidate its diplomats as relation between the two nations ebb.