No foreign govt has supported farmers’ protest: MEA in LS

The government said on Wednesday that no foreign administration has extended support to farmers protesting against three farm laws though there have been protests by “motivated” people of Indian-origin (PIO) in countries such as Canada, the US and the UK.

The government’s position was outlined in a written reply by minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan to a qurstion from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MPS Syed Imtiaz Jaleel and Asaduddin Owaisi on whether some countries and PIOS have supported the farmers’ protest.

“No foreign government has given support to agitation of Indian farmers against three bills passed by Indian Parliament,” he said in the reply. “In Canada, [the] UK, [the] USA, and in few European countries, protests by a few motivated PIOS on issues related to the Indian Farm Bill have been reported.”

Muraleedharan said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “made a comment on issues related to farmers in India”, following which the Indian government had “conveyed that such comments pertaining to the internal affairs of... India are unwarranted, unacceptable”.

He also said the Canadian government “has welcomed the Government of India’s commitment to ongoing dialogue with the farmers”.

Trudeau triggered a diplomatic row in December when he said in a Facebook video interaction that his government had conveyed its concerns over the farmers’ protest to New Delhi.

In response, the MEA summoned Canadian envoy Nadir Patel on December 4 and told him the remarks by Trudeau and Canadian lawmakers on the issue had the potential to “seriously” damage bilateral ties. Despite the protest from the Indian side, Trudeau doubled down on his position the same day during an interaction with reporters in Ottawa and said Canada “will always stand up for the right of peaceful protest anywhere around the world”.

The matter has also been raised by influential US lawmakers, including members of the influential house foreign affairs committee, and a group of 36 British MPS wrote a letter to foreign minister Dominic Raab last month, asking him to take up the farmers’ protest with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.