Fri 04 December 2020:
Days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came out in support of the protesting farmers, India on Friday summoned the Canadian envoy and said that such actions, if continued, will have a seriously damaging impact on the bilateral ties with Canada.
In an official statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday, it said, “The Canadian High Commissioner was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs today and informed that comments by the Canadian Prime Minister, some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs.”
“Such actions, if continued, would have a seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada,” it said.
Speaking at an online event to mark the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, the Canadian leader said earlier this week that the news coming out of India was “concerning” and his country would “always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protest”.
#CanadianPM Prime Minister #JustinTrudeau Trudeau, is the first world leader to comment on the #IndianFarmers ‘ #protestsfarmers . pic.twitter.com/P2r6I8gaSi
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) December 1, 2020
New Delhi had denounced Trudeau’s comments, terming them as “unwarranted”.
“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,” the MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Tuesday.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting outside the Indian capital, New Delhi, for more than a week now, demanding the scrapping of controversial agriculture laws enacted by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Read more: CANADIAN PM TRUDEAU BACKS INDIAN FARMERS’ PROTEST, SAYS SITUATION IS CONCERNING
Farmers fear that the minimum support price (MSP) – the price at which the government buys farm produce – will be abolished gradually and they will be left at the mercy of private players.
Several politicians from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States have expressed their solidarity with Indian farmers over the past few days and criticised the Modi government’s handling of the biggest protests in years.
But Trudeau became the first head of a country to comment on the issue that has set the Modi government on the back foot.
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