No foreign government has extended its support to the farmers' protests against the Centre’s three farm laws, the Ministry of External Affairs has said in Lok Sabha, ANI reported on Wednesday, 3 February.
However, it said that prote.s by a “few motivated people of India origin” in Canada, UK, US and a few European countries, on issues related to the farm laws had been reported, as well as a comment from the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The MEA’s position came in a written reply by the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to a question in Lok Sabha, in which he was responding to a query from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MPs Syed Imtiaz Jaleel and Asaduddin Owaisi asking whether some countries and people of India origin have supported the farmers’ protest, reported Hindustan Times.
“We've taken up this matter with Canadian authorities and conveyed that such comments pertaining to internal affairs of India are unwarranted, unacceptable and would damage India-Canada bilateral relations,” the MEA further said, according to ANI, referring to the Canada PM’s remarks.
It also added that the Canada government had welcomed the Indian government’s commitment to ongoing dialogue with the farmers.
WHAT HAD TRUDEAU SAID?
In December, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had become the first international head of government to speak out on the protests by farmers in India against the Narendra Modi government's new farm laws.
Responding to Trudeau’s remarks, India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “We have seen some ill-informed comments by Canadian leaders relating to farmers in India. Such comments are unwarranted, especially when pertaining to the internal affairs of a democratic country.”
Srivastava added, “It is also best that diplomatic conversations are not misrepresented for political purposes.”
The MEA on 4 December said the Canadian High Commissioner was summoned and “informed that comments made by the Canadian Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau), some Cabinet ministers and members of Parliament on issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs.”
Soon after, the MEA also said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would not participate in the next Canada-led meeting of foreign ministers to strategise tackling COVID-19, telling their Canadian counterpart that the minister would not be available for 7 December meet due to "scheduling issues."
Jaishankar had participated in the meeting held on 3 November, and had taken to social media to post about the same.
(With inputs from ANI and Hindustan Times.)
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