India and Canada have not been on the best of terms lately, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly lent support to the ongoing farmers' protest. The MEA had not taken kindly to his support for the "right of peaceful protest", stating in no uncertain terms that "Canadian leaders" were making unwarranted, "ill-informed comments" on India's internal matters.
Since then, as the protests continued, several Canadian lawmakers have reiterated their support for the farmers, and Indo-Canadian relations remained somewhat strained. This appears to have changed on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Modi holding a phone conversation with his Canadian counterpart.
"Was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau . Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Ministry of External Affairs also put out a statement outlining details about the call.
Oddly enough, the account of the call put forward by the MEA differs from that of Canada in several ways. While India's account would make it seem that the primary topic of conversation had been "Canada's requirements of COVID-19 vaccines from India", the western nation is putting it slightly differently. Not only that, While Canada's account mentions the recent protests in India, the MEA account skips this detail.
Indeed Canada's vaccine "requirements" don't find any mention in the official press release. Rather, the readout put up on Trudeau's official site says that the two leaders spoke about their respective efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and "agreed to work together on access to vaccines".
While Canada's account of the conversation seems to indicate that the recent farmers' protest was a topic of conversation, the MEA has made no mention of the same. While both accounts mention that the Prime Ministers had work together to fend off global challenges such as climate change and the effects of the pandemic, there are several variations.
"The leaders discussed Canada and India’s commitment to democratic principles, recent protests, and the importance of resolving issues through dialogue. They underlined the need to work collectively in rebuilding a more sustainable and resilient global economy," says the Canadian press release.
"The two leaders also reiterated the common perspective shared by India and Canada on many important geo-political issues. They agreed to continue the close collaboration between both countries in fighting global challenges like Climate Change and the economic impacts of the pandemic," amends the MEA announcement.
