LONDON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s trip to India will not be overshadowed by the House of Commons debate on farmer protests and press freedoms, and relations between the two countries at a senior ministerial level remain strong, a government minister has said.
Lord Ahmad, minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, said on Friday, ahead of his trip to India next week, that the UK government position was very clear that the farm protests were “very much an internal matter for India” and that India had the right to deal with disruptive protests according to the rule of law.
He said the parliamentary debate relating to farmer protester safety and press freedoms was driven by backbench MPs and not by the UK government, and that the scheduling of such debates was not in the government’s control.
But he pointed out the UK had made its position clear in the written response to the petition that sparked the debate and in what minister of state for Asia Nigel Adams, representing the government at the debate, had said.
Ahmad said he had made these points to the Indian high commissioner to the UK, Gaitri Kumar, who he had met following the debate, and she accepted the position.
Ahmad said the debate would not overshadow Johnson’s trip to India.
“Our position as Her Majesty’s government is that the protests have been taking place for several months and India as a democracy has totally guaranteed and secured the right to protest and we fully acknowledge that. We fully endorse the point too, which is that the principle of farmers’ protests in terms of the actual nature of it, is absolutely and totally a matter for the government of India. That position is long-standing and has not changed — even if some reporting may suggest to the contrary.”
Ahmad flies to India this weekend for a week-long trip ahead of Johnson’s visit, which is expected next month.
Ahmad will visit Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Mumbai next week where he will interact with regional leaders, as well as his key counterparts in the MEA, home ministry and law and justice ministry.