PROTEST ANGER: INDIA SUMMONS UK ENVOY OVER DEBATE
FARMERS’ PROTESTS DISCUSSIONS ‘CAST ASPERSIONS ON A FELLOW DEMOCRACY’
INDIA’S foreign ministry said on Tuesday (9) it had summoned the UK’s high commissioner over what it called “unwarranted and tendentious discussion” of Indian agricultural reforms in the British parliament.
Three new agricultural laws introduced by India last year have led to months of protests by farmers, angry at what they see as sops to large private buyers.
A discussion among UK lawmakers on Monday (8) caused anger in New Delhi, which accused the MPs of interfering in India’s internal affairs.
At Tuesday’s meeting, India’s foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told Alexander Ellis, who was appointed as envoy earlier this year, that the debate “represented a gross interference in the politics of another democratic country,” according to a ministry statement.
“He advised that British MPs should refrain from practising vote bank politics by misrepresenting events, especially in relation to another fellow democracy,” it added, in an apparent reference to British lawmakers and voters of Indian descent.
A spokesman for the British High Commission declined to comment.
Unrest has been particularly intense in the state of Punjab, that has large diasporas in the UK, the US and Canada.
In London, the discussion among UK parliamentarians about the ongoing farmers’ protest and on the freedom of press in India was criticised as one-sided by the country’s high commission.
“We deeply regret that rather than a balanced debate, false assertions – without substantiation or facts – were made, casting aspersions on the largest functioning democracy in the world and its institutions,” India House said in a statement.
The debate in the UK parliament took place after an e-petition entitled Urge the Indian Government to ensure safety of protesters & press freedom attracted more than 100,000 signatures on the parliamentary website and merited a debate with MPs.
A “false narrative over farmers’ protest was sought to be developed”, the statement added, even though “the High Commission of India has been, over a period of time, taking care to inform all concerned about the issues raised in the petition.”
Members of the foreign media, including outlets from Britain, were present and they witnessed the farmers’ protests in India first-hand and therefore any “question of lack of freedom of the media in India does not arise”, the statement said.
The High Commission said it “would normally refrain” from commenting on an internal discussion involving a small group of parliamentarians in a limited quorum.
“However, when aspersions are cast on India by anyone, irrespective of their claims of friendship and love for India or domestic political compulsions, there is a need to set the record straight,” the statement said.
A dozen cross-party British MPs debated issues around the “use of force” against protesters in India opposed to agricultural reforms, as well as journalists “being targeted” while covering the protests, which has been taking place at several border points in Delhi for more than 100 days.
Nigel Adams, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) minister, said bilateral ties did not hinder the UK in any way from raising “difficult issues” with India, as he reiterated the government line that agricultural reforms are a “domestic matter” for India.
“This is a time of great ambition for the UK’s relationship with India. Both governments are working to advance shared priorities across trade and investment, health, sustainability and climate change and defence and security,” he said.
“We are also working with India as a force for good in the UN Security Council and as one of the prime minister’s [Boris Johnson] guest countries at the G7 summit later this year in June. This cooperation will help us fix global problems and it will strengthen prosperity and wellbeing in India and the UK. However, whilet this is an exciting time for the UK-India partnership, it does not hinder us from raising difficult issues,” the minister said.
He added that “candid discussions” on a range of issues will form part of Johnson’s planned visit to India imminently.
Acknowledging the “alarm and uncertainty” that the farmers’ protests and their coverage in India had caused among British communities with family ties in India, Adams was hopeful that the ongoing dialogue between the Indian government and farmers’ unions will have “positive results”.
The debate was held at Portcullis House in London, with some MPs taking part in it via videolink.
Virendra Sharma, the opposition Labour MP for Ealing Southall, whose constituency in west London has a large Punjabi diaspora, said, “Both sides need to step back and recognise the need to come to an agreement… I hope the government will commit to helping that cause and offer British skills in a negotiation and compromise to help both sides to bring this issue to a close.
During the discussion, Conservative backbench MP Theresa Villiers noted that the new agricultural laws in India had been postponed to allow for greater “consultation and discussion”.
“I understand that protesting farmers feel insecure about their future, but (Indian) prime minister (Narendra) Modi’s government has repeatedly said that a core purpose of the reforms is to make farming more profitable, to raise the incomes of people who work in farming and to promote investment in agriculture to increase yields,” she said.
Farmers, mostly from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping just outside the capital since November 28, demanding a repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for their crops.
Multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions have not been able to resolve the deadlock.