After protests against CAA, farmers' stir attracts international attention

Two years in a row, fires stoked by domestic discontent in India are grabbing international attention and support. If it was the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last year, it is the farmers' agitation against the new agriculture laws that the Narendra Modi government recently promulgated that is causing ripples overseas now.

Across several countries with thriving Indian diaspora, like the US, Canada, UK and Australia, people have come out in support of Indian farmers and demonstrated outside Indian missions. In the US, over the last few days, there were demonstrations led by Sikh Americans in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington DC. Several US lawmakers, too, have made utterances in favour of the farmers to support the right to protest. Democratic Congressman Andy Levin went a step ahead and even said the protest was a harbinger of people's power in 2021. He tweeted, “Whether here at home or around the globe, we've got to help workers earn a better and more secure living. In India, many workers are farmers, and they are making it clear that they will not stand for Modi government reforms that allow corporate interests to exploit them.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had taken the extreme step of jeopardising bilateral ties by consistently extending his support to the protesters. Even after India issued a demarche to Canada's high commissioner in New Delhi, Nadir Patel, over Trudeau's utterances, the Canadian prime minister again said, “Canada will always stand up for the right of peaceful protest and human rights.”

Some Canadian politicians, including parliamentarian Jack Harris, have also spoken out for the Indian farmers. Diplomatic ties, not too warm to start out with, have chilled even further, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, deciding to skip a meeting on COVID-19 spearheaded by Canada. India cited scheduling reasons for the move, though.

Spokesperson for the United Nations Stephane Dujarric, too, has said that “people have a right to demonstrate peacefully and authorities need to let them do so”. Earlier, 36 British parliamentarians had written to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, highlighting the concerns of British citizens over the plight of the farmers in Punjab. On Sunday, there was a rally in support of the farmers outside the Indian mission in Melbourne, Australia.

India has not responded to any of these events and comments, except to Canada. The Indian government twice responded to Canada—once issuing a statement against Trudeau's initial comment, and, later, summoning Patel to the ministry of external affairs. On both occasions, India reiterated that the farmers' agitation was an internal matter on which others did not have a position to interfere. India also emphasised that the comments by Trudeau and other leaders were not just misinformed but also encouraged gathering of extremist activities outside Indian missions. India had told Canada to “refrain from pronouncements that legitimise extremist actions”.

There are reports of the diaspora sending funds to their farmer relatives in Punjab, and the Enforcement Directorate has already begun a probe on foreign funding in the protests.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, mostly in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, too, garnered much international support. However, the agitations died natural deaths in March, when the lockdown was imposed. With the opposition parties also backing the farmers, the government will have to work at not just suffusing the noxious farm fires at home, but also ensuring its image doesn't get too blackened overseas from the smoke of these fires.