Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has openly backed the protests by the Indian Farmers against the newly enacted Farm Law, and this has disturbed the Government of India. During a recent online event, PM Trudeau was seen expressing serious concern over the condition of Indian Farmers, stating that his country would forever defend the Right to Peaceful Protest. After this, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs held a meeting with the Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi, telling the envoy that Farmers’ Protests were the internal matter of the country, and that no foreign official should make comments on this issue. The Indian Ministry also said that such comments could hurt bilateral diplomatic ties. However, the Canadian Premier did not give up! Even, 36 British Parliamentarians and quite a few US Politicians (both Democrats and Republicans) and Diplomats have also backed these Indian Farmers. As expected, those external comments have irked the Government of India!

Now, the question is whether this anger is justified or not! It is easy to say: “We will take care of our ‘Internal Matter’.” However, each and every incident has a Global Impact, as it is directly involved with the State Policy. It is a fact that Farm Law is India’s own business. However, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has the right to discuss about the structure and content of a Law at the international level. Hence, it is not just an internal matter of a country, but a global issue, related to the image of a nation. In this Globalised World, every country has the right to discuss an issue of Global Importance! Even, India makes comments on China or Pakistan’s internal matters! In fact, India has expressed serious concern over the problems faced by the Uyghur Muslims in China and Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Of course, India can try to find whether there is a motive behind PM Trudeau’s comment. Canada may have a vested political interest that has prompted the PM to back the Indian Farmers. It may be noted that the Defence Minister of Canada belongs to the Sikh Community (people associated with Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that originated in the 15th Century in the Punjab Region of the Indian Subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak). Sikhs are an influential ethnic group even in Britain and the US! PM Trudeau raised the issue while speaking at an event, marking the Birthday of Guru Nanak. According to Experts, the Canadian Premier has backed the Farmers’ Protests in India in order to please the Sikh voters in his country…

India may well have raised this issue or would even have slammed Canada for opposing India’s Agricultural Policy at the WTO. To summon a Foreign Diplomat and reprimand him are parts of Diplomacy, but there are various other effective diplomatic ways to prove a point.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das