In a weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQ) Sessions in the House of Commons, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to have confused a question regarding the ongoing farmer protests in India for a question about tensions between India and Pakistan.
However, the UK government has now clarified the incident, saying that PM Johnson had “misheard” the question and that the Foreign Office was “closely” following the protests in India, reported India Today.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, the British Sikh Labour MP who has been working towards keeping the farmers struggle against the Indian government’s agriculture laws in British news asked the British PM to convey people’s “heartfelt anxieties, hopes for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The opposition MP also said of the protests what he’d tweeted previously, “Many constituents, especially those emanating from Punjab and other parts of India, and I were horrified to see footage of water cannons, teargas and brute force being used against peacefully protesting farmers. However, it was heart-warming to see those very farmers feeding those forces who had been ordered to beat or suppress them. What indomitable spirit and it takes a special kind of people to do that.”
Boris Johnson, in a short response to Dhesi’s question decided to bring up a completely unrelated matter instead.
He went on to say, “Our view is that of course we have serious concerns about what is happening between India and Pakistan but these are pre-eminently matters for those two governments to settle and I know that he appreciates that point.”
Dhesi later took to Twitter to say, with subtle sarcasm, that “it might help help if our PM actually knew what he was talking about!” while speaking on the protests in India.
He also went on to express his abject disappointment, and said “The world is watching, issue is a huge one with hundreds of thousands protesting globally (including in London, reported on by BBC) and the usual Boris Johnson bluff and bluster heaps further embarrassment onto our nation. Absolutely clueless!”
The UK government has so far refused to comment on the farmer protests that have been going on in several northern states of India since late November.
(with inputs from NDTV)
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