LONDON: Two Indian-origin MPs are pushing for a debate in the British Parliament on the safety of the farmer protesters and on press freedom in India.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, whose family hail from Jalandhar, and Valerie Vaz, who has Goan roots, both Labour, on Thursday pressed Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg for a debate to happen on the petition, which is on the UK government and parliament site with 115,000 signatures and calls for the UK government to urge India to ensure the safety of farm protesters and that press freedoms are maintained.
The petition reached the 100,000 threshold on February 2, meaning a debate on it would be held in Westminster Hall, and a government minister would have to attend and respond. It was started on December 17 by Liberal Democrats Maidenhead councillor Gurch Singh, whose family is from Ludhiana.
But on January 13 MPs agreed to temporarily suspend Westminster Hall debates owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, in the Commons chamber, Dhesi asked Rees-Mogg, who is responsible for scheduling business in the House, to make an exception and facilitate the debate in the main chamber as he said the “peaceful farmers’ protest in India” ongoing for some months now, is “currently the largest protest on the planet”.
“Given our serious anxieties, more than 100 hon. members signed a letter to the prime minister seeking his intervention. Well over 100,000 constituents — incredibly, from every single one of the 650 UK constituencies — have signed an online petition. Given those facts, and given the arrest of journalists, peaceful protesters and human rights activists such as Nodeep Kaur, who, it is alleged, has been tortured and endured sexual assault while in police custody, will the Leader of the House please facilitate a debate on this important matter,” Dhesi asked.
Rees-Mogg responded that the protests were a matter of concern across the House and across constituencies. “The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental one, along with freedom of speech and internet freedom. India is a very proud democracy and a country with which we have the strongest possible relations.” He said that over the next century Britain’s relationship with India “may well be our most important relationship with any country in the world”.
“As India is our friend, it is only right that we make representations when we think that things are happening that are not in the interests of the reputation of the country of which we are a friend,” he said.
He confirmed that the foreign secretary had discussed the farmers’ protest with his Indian counterpart in December and said the UK government will continue to follow the farmers’ protest closely and “continue to champion human rights globally”, but that agricultural reform “is a domestic policy issue for India”.
Vaz also asked Rees-Mogg if he could find time for the debate, even if virtually. “Satyagraha is the Gandhian peaceful protest that is in the Indian DNA, but we have seen scenes of terrible violence against those who are protecting their livelihoods,” she said.
Councillor Singh, whose family members are at the protest sites, told TOI he had written to the petitions committee putting pressure on them to hold the debate. “I am a proud Indian. I have nothing against the Modi government. I just want them to listen to farmers and come to a sensible resolution and prevent any further loss of life,” he said.