The Indian Consulate in the Canadian city of Toronto has written to the governing body in the province of Ontario, directing them “to remove false and hateful content” that portrays India’s new agriculture laws in a bad light.
As per news reports, the letter was written three months ago and recently surfaced on social media. The letter states that the Consulate General “considers this incident to be extremely serious and views it as a conspiracy to sabotage the goodwill and warm, friendly relations between India and Canada by inimical entities to further their nefarious agenda.”
The letter also mentions that the directive comes following complaints from parents who approached the consulate as their children were victims of “bullying and verbal harassment” due to the content of the curriculum. Moreover, the letter warns: “The seriousness of this issue can potentially poison the bilateral relations between Indian and Ontario.”
However, the teachers have responded in the offensive, campaigning to support and include the farmers’ protest content in their curriculum. Simmi Jaiswal, a teacher, told CBC News: “This is not just a distant connection... It’s about our students’ lived experiences.” “I make it very frank to my students that in my view, what we’re looking at is a form of oppression,” Jaiswal said, adding, “My preference is to centre on marginalised voices and identities.”
Since November last year, Indian farmers have been camping on the borders of the country’s capital Delhi, demanding the repulsion of the three laws that open up the country’s agriculture markets to private companies. The farmers fear that the policy change would make them vulnerable to corporate exploitation and lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price, a decade long policy scheme that has been a boon for Indian farmers. The Indian Government, however, continues to claim that the three legislations are in the best interests of the farmers. Despite holding 11 rounds of talks on the matter since December, no consensus has been reached between the Indian Government and the farmers’ associations.
The Canadian Government has been vocal in supporting the farmers’ interest in India throughout the protests. As the situation reached a boiling point in December, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fervently spoke in support of the farmers’, saying that his country “will always defend the rights of peaceful protesters.” The Indian Government responded by saying that the Canadian PM’s comments were “unwarranted and ill-informed”, especially when it concerns the “internal affairs of a democratic country.”
The Indian Consulate’s action comes after a series of incidents that have already soured interpersonal and bilateral relations. Now that the letter is in the public domain, it remains to be seen how the Canadian authorities react to the Consulate’s directive.
Indian Consulate Asks Canadian Schools to Remove Content on Farmers’ Protest
The Indian Consulate in Toronto said the content was based on misinformation and could hamper ties between the two countries.
June 23, 2021
SOURCE: OPINDIA