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regular-article-logo Friday, 26 April 2024

Boris Johnson confuses farmers’ issue with India-Pak dispute

British MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi takes to Twitter to post exchange

Our Bureau, Agencies London Published 09.12.20, 08:29 PM
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the remarks at the UK Parliament on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the remarks at the UK Parliament on Wednesday. File picture

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on wednesday seemed to be confused between two separate issues when he said the UK government’s stance on the dispute between India and Pakistan was for the two countries to settle bilaterally.

On this day, British Sikh Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who has been actively trying to make the British aware about the farmers’ issue in India, repeated one of his previous Twitter statements on the issue in the House of Commons during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session.

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“Many constituents, especially those emanating from Punjab and other parts of India, and I were horrified to see footage of water cannons, teargas and brute force being used against peacefully protesting farmers. However, it was heart-warming to see those very farmers feeding those forces who had been ordered to beat or suppress them. What indomitable spirit and it takes a special kind of people to do that,” the Opposition Parliamentarian said.

“So, will the Prime Minister (Johnson) convey to the Indian Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) our heartfelt anxieties, our hopes for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock and does he agree that everyone has a fundamental right to peaceful protest,” he asked Johnson.

The Prime Minister, in his response, went on to comment on a total unrelated issue instead.

“Our view is that of course we have serious concerns about what is happening between India and Pakistan but these are pre-eminently matters for those two governments to settle and I know that he appreciates that point,” he said.

A visibly perplexed Dhesi took to social media and posted the exchange on twitter, writing, “But it might help if our PM actually knew what he was talking about!”

The UK government has so far refused to be drawn into the ongoing protests in India, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) saying the matter of handling protests was an internal one.

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