India is witnessing Farmer’s protests on the outskirts of Delhi for more than a month now, over the new Agriculture laws, which they say Anti-Farmers and may leave them at the mercy of big MNC’s and override legal safeguards and give them disadvantage as far as the price of their products is concerned.
There has been allegations and certain evidences of foreign funding to fuel this agitation, specially from Canada and United Kingdom. Certain Khalistani supporter groups are openly supporting these protests, they are fanning hatred against Indian Government, Hindus and our constitutional institutions. The most vocal support for these farmer protests are coming from Canada and UK, where these Khalistani supporters are based.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended his support to the farmers’ protest and said that the Indian farmers’ protests against the Agriculture bills were “concerning” and that his country will “be there to defend the rights of peaceful protest”.
Indian Government reacted sharply to the allegations of Canadian PM’s remark and called him “ill-informed”.
However, Trudeau once again offered his support for Farmer’s agitation and several people were in shock and surprise that why he is doing so. We have zotted down 3 important reasons, which may help you understand the hypocrisy and evil intentions of Canadian government.
Khalistani Connection
Do you know Trudeau has more Sikh ministers in his cabinet than even PM Modi and Ex-PM Manmohan Singh had earlier?
It’s an open truth that Trudeau’s defense minister Harjit Singh Sajjan has been a supporter of Khalistani Radicals. He was the first one to support the Farmer’s protest and tweeted that nobody should use brutal methods against farmers marching towards Delhi.
If we talk about Canada’s demography, then it’s a fact that Sikhs are one of the most dominant ethnic group in the eight seats of the House of Commons in Canada. Sikhs are an extremely significant minority group in 15 other seats where they can change the polling equation. Hence, Trudeau is trying his best to appease Khalistani supporters.
Trudeau’s track record on Sikh issues has always been a concern for India, he always behaves in an immature manner for the sake of his political interest by ignoring the radicalism of Sikhs by Khalistani groups based in Canada.
When Trudeau visited India, his delegation included Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted for attempting to murder Punjab minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu. It was due to such immature steps, Indian Government gave him a cold shoulder and sent then the Minister of State for agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to receive him.
MSP and Farmer Subsidies – The perfect Canadian Hypocrisy
Canada is known for its hypocritical rant against India on agricultural issues at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Canada along with few other countries like the US, Japan, and Australia have challenged India at WTO meetings and opposed India’s agricultural programs like the minimum support price (MSP) for staple crops such as rice, wheat and pulses.
Canada raised questions on India on exceeding the permitted limit on food subsidies given for rice production to farmers in 2018-19. Canada had also sent 25 questions to India with regard to its farm subsidy and also explained the impact of such food subsidies on global agricultural trade.
Today, Canadian PM Trudeau is supporting Indian Farmers on the issue of MSP, whereas he opposed Indian Government at all International forums on the same issues in the past. Isn’t that a hypocrisy?
Pulse Import from Canada – ‘Ye Dal ka mamla hai’
Do you know, in 2006 the UPA government reduced the import duty on Pulses, which led to massive import of Pulses from Canada for almost a decade.
Here, an important aspect that every Indian must know that India is the World’s largest producer of pulses, but Canada is the world’s top pulse exporter, with India its top pulse buyer. Isn’t this surprising?
Come 2016, the Indian Government started changing this equation. Indian Government imposed trade restrictions (tariffs and quantitative restrictions) on lentils and peas, and added technical requirements for methyl bromide fumigation of shipments prior to their arrival in India, which resulted in a decrease of Canadian exports to India by more than 80 percent during the 2017-2018 crop year.
Indian government has raised the import duty on some pulses to as high as 50% and fixed quotas for others like green gram, yellow peas, and chickpeas. The country imported 5.68 million tonnes of pulses worth $3 billion in 2017-18, down 15% from a year earlier
Modi Government took this decision because the Government is aiming for self-sufficiency in pulse production as part of a mandate to double farmers’ income by 2022. India’s farmers represent a significant portion of its population and increasing farmers’ welfare is a top priority for the Indian government, and its the part of its election manifesto as well.
Modi Government took these decisions to help raise domestic prices and increase the pulse production in India. Government also increased the minimum support prices offered to Indian farmers and increases in restrictive import policy measures. India saw two consecutive record years of pulse production moving into 2017, and that gave them the necessary confidence to put the restrictions on Canadian imports.
So, Modi government was only fulfilling its promise, but Canada didn’t like that, obviously due to commercial losses.
Canada was so miffed that it moved to WTO along with Australia and the USA and raised objections over restriction on import of certain pulses by India to check falling prices in the domestic market.
In February 2020, David Marit, agriculture minister of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, said India’s trade policy flip-flops fueled uncertainty among Canada’s farmers. Saskatchewan province is known as Canada’s biggest pulses producer.
Conclusion
We believe these are the major reasons why Canada is opposing India at every possible forum and even fueling the Farmer’s protests openly to destabilize India. Most of the Khalistani groups and leaders are based in Canada, even many celebrities who are vocal against Indian Government are based in Canada.
However, Canadian Government is forgetting that India is their long term ally and Millions of Indians are contributing in Canadian success from last couple of decades. They should not do something, just for the sake of few votes, which may break this beautiful relationship.
