Canadian PM lauds India’s handling of farmers’ protest

In what can be termed as a U-turn, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now praised the Narendra Modi government’s efforts for choosing the path of dialogue in dealing with the farmers’ issues.

In his telephonic talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trudeau commended the Indian government’s effort to engage farmers in talks and described it as “befitting in democracy”, the Ministry of External Affairs said late on Friday.

“He (Trudeau) also acknowledged the responsibility of his Government in providing protection to Indian diplomatic premises and personnel in Canada,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Friday.

Canada had earlier raised concerns over the farmers’ agitations in India. PM Trudeau, while expressing concern about farmers protest, had said, “The situation is concerning and we are all very worried about family and friends. Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest.”

His comments caused a huge outrage in India and the Center termed PM Trudeau’s remarks as unwarranted.

Coincidence or not, this change in the Canadian stand came just a few days after PM Modi, in a tweet, said that “he assured him (Turdeau) that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of Covid vaccine sought by Canada”.

Canada had asked India to allow the supply of Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

Trudeau is facing a public backlash because of the lack of the availability of vaccines as both Pfizer and Moderna have either cut or delayed shipments to Canada which has got only 1.1 million doses so far.