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04-12-2020
NEW DELHI: India on Friday termed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent comments over protests by farmers near New Delhi as “unacceptable interference” and warned that such things could harm bilateral ties.
It also summoned Canada’s ambassador to formally lodge a protest.
Trudeau, speaking to the Indian community in Canada, said this week that he was concerned about the farmers, most of them from the Sikh-dominated Indian state of Punjab, camped out on the outskirts of Delhi in a protest against farm reforms.
The Indian foreign ministry said in a statement that comments on “issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs.”
India and Canada have warm ties, but in recent years there has been concern in India that some Sikh leaders in 
Canada have ties to separatist groups hostile to India.
Canada is home to an influential Sikh community and Indian leaders say there are some fringe groups there that are still sympathetic to the cause of an independent Sikh state called Khalistan, carved out of India.
The Indian foreign ministry said comments made by Trudeau and other leaders had emboldened radical groups and they were a risk to its diplomatic staff based in Canada.
“We expect the Canadian Government to ensure the fullest security of Indian diplomatic personnel and its political leaders to refrain from pronouncements that legitimize extremist activism,” it said.
There was no comment from the Canadian embassy.
The Indian government has held talks with the farmers to end the impasse and persuade them that farm reforms were in their interest in the long-term.
Indian farmers and government representatives will meet again on Saturday, a cabinet minister said, as a fourth round of talks held on Thursday failed to make headway over divisive farm laws.
In India’s biggest farm unrest in years, tens of thousands of growers are protesting on the outskirts of the capital Delhi against the laws seeking to rid the sector of antiquated procurement procedures and allow farmers to sell to institutional buyers and big international retailers.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will engage with the protesting farmers and look into their concerns, and defended the laws.
“The farm sector acts was not done in a jiffy. Consultations were held over the years, parliamentary committees have discussed it,” Sitharaman told the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit, 2021.
The farmers, who form a powerful political constituency, fear the laws passed in September could see the government stop buying grains at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.
India’s Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said Thursday’s talks, which lasted seven hours, were cordial and the government was sympathetic.
“We addressed the issues raised by them and we are going to meet again on the 5th,” Tomar told reporters.
He added the government would continue the guaranteed price system, but farm leaders have previously sought a written assurance. (Int’l News Desk)
