NEW DELHI, Feb 12: The Ministry of External Affairs has claimed that the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had “hailed” the central government trying to resolve the deadlock over the farmers’ strike “through dialogue befitting in democracy.”
The MEA reaction came a day after the Canadian prime minister’s office said Trudeau had “talked to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on recent protests” hinting at the farmers’ agitation.
“On the farmers’ protests, Prime Minister Trudeau commended efforts of the Government of India to choose the path of dialogue as befitting in democracy,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in a statement. “Trudeau also acknowledged the responsibility of his government in providing protection to Indian diplomatic premises and personnel in Canada.”
On Thursday, Trudeau said he held a “good discussion” with Modi on “many important issues, including on the “two nations’ commitment to democratic principles, recent protests, and the importance of resolving issues through dialogue”, a statement from the Canadian government said.
“I had a good discussion with Prime Minister @NarendraModi on many important issues, and we’ve agreed to stay in touch,” Trudeau had tweeted.
“The leaders discussed Canada and India’s commitment to democratic principles, recent protests, and the importance of resolving issues through dialogue,” the Canadian Prime Minister’s office said in a statement. However, the reference to “recent protests” did not figure in the release issued officially by India on Thursday on Modi’s telephonic conversation with Trudeau held on Wednesday.
The Canadian prime minister has a large and influential Sikh diaspora as a political constituency — his comments on farmers’ protests in December stem from that. His reiteration of this, regarding the phone call he had with Modi, is aimed at consolidating the constituency.
In his tweet on Wednesday about the conversation, Modi had said, “Was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery.”
In December, Trudeau’s remarks on farmers’ protest that “Canada will always stand up for the right of peaceful protests anywhere around the world” had caused angry reactions in India leading to summoning the Canadian envoy in New Delhi and warning that such “actions” could have a “seriously damaging impact” on bilateral ties. It had also slammed the “ill-informed comments” on the “internal affairs of a democratic country.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
