Thirty-six British MPs from various parties, including some of Indian descent and others representing many voters with ties to Punjab, have written to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, asking him to raise the issue of farmers’ agitation with the government of Narendra Modi.
Coordinated by Labor MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, the letter seeks an urgent meeting with Raab and an update on the representations that the Foreign Office may have made with India on the issue, including during the Foreign Secretary’s recent visit to London. Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Signatories to the letter include MPs from the Scottish National, Conservative and Labor Party, including former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, Virendra Sharma, Seema Malhotra, Valerie Vaz, Nadia Whittome, Peter Bottomley, John McDonnell, Martin Docherty-Hughes and Alison Thewliss.
The letter says: “This is an issue of particular concern to Sikhs in the UK and those with ties to Punjab, although it also has a strong impact on other Indian states. Many British Sikhs and Punjabis have raised this issue with their MPs as they (are) directly affected by family and ancestral lands of the Punjab ”.
Stating that several MPs had recently written to the Indian high commission about the impact of India’s three agricultural laws, the letter alleges that they do not “protect farmers from exploitation and do not guarantee fair prices for their products.”
British MPs have also been commenting on the farmers’ agitation on social media in recent days.
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Preet Kaur Gill, Birmingham Edgbaston Labor MP and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Party for British Sikhs, reacted to the images of the Delhi protests: “This is no way to deal with citizens who are peacefully protesting the controversial Farmers Bill in India “.
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Shocking scenes from Delhi. Farmers peacefully protest controversial bills that will affect their livelihoods. Water cannons and tear gas are used to silence them, ”he added on Twitter.
Dhesi posted images of the protests, saying: “It takes a special kind of people to feed those ordered to beat and repress them. I stand with the farmers of #Punjab and other parts of #India, including our family and friends, who are peacefully protesting the invasive privatization of # FarmersBill2020 ”.
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