United Nations: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said about the ongoing farmers’ protests in India that people have the right to demonstrate peacefully and that the authorities should be allowed to do. India termed the remarks of foreign leaders about the farmers’ protests as “misleading” and “unnecessary” and said it was a matter of internal affairs of a democratic country.
Secretary-General’s spokesman Stephen Dujarric said on Friday, “As far as India is concerned, what I have said to others who have raised these issues is that the people have the right to demonstrate peacefully. And the authorities should let them do it. ” Dujarric was responding to a question related to the performance of farmers in India.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anurag Shrivastav had on Tuesday said about the remarks of foreign leaders, “We have seen some comments related to farmers in India which are based on misleading information. Such comments are inappropriate, especially when they relate to the internal affairs of a democratic country. “
“It would be better if diplomatic talks were not misrepresented for political purposes,” the ministry said in a statement. India on Friday summoned Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel and told him that remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and some other leaders about the farmers’ movement were tantamount to “unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs. The State Department said the Canadian diplomat was also told that such activity, if continued, would cause “serious damage” to bilateral relations.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and many other states have been protesting at the Delhi border for the past nine days in protest of the central government’s agricultural laws. However, the government says the new laws will provide better opportunities to farmers and bring new technology to the agricultural sector. The fifth round of talks between the government and farmers’ organizations on agricultural laws is to be held on Saturday.
