‘Indian government-controlled media has demonised farmers’: British MP on farmer protests

Nadia Whittome, a British MP of Indian origin from the Labour party, on Tuesday criticised the Narendra Modi government for its handling of the farmer protests and called out a section of the country’s media.

Whittome put out a video on Twitter saying as a granddaughter of Punjabi farmers she was proud to stand in solidarity with the “millions resisting Modi’s regime”.

She said farmers from across the country, cutting across gender, religious, and caste lines, were protesting against the new farm laws that “threaten” livelihoods. “In response, in order to stoke communal violence,” she added, “Indian government-controlled media has demonised protesters as Sikh separatists.”

Whittome mentioned Dalit labour activist Navdeep Kaur, who was “wrongfully imprisoned and reportedly sexually assaulted and turtored by police”, and activist Disha Ravi, who was held for editing and sharing a “toolkit” tweeted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to mobilise support for the farmer protests. These women couldn’t contrast more sharply with their “sexist” government, the MP added.

Her remarks came a day after a debate in the British parliament on the farmer protests and freedom of the press in India invited a strong reaction from the Modi government.

The foreign ministry called in the British High Commissioner on Tuesday, expressing disapproval over the debate and calling it a "gross interference" and "vote bank politics".

The debate was sparked by a petition on the UK parliament’s website which attracted over 1,00,000 signatures. During the discussion, MPs from across parties criticised the Indian government for its handling of the farmer protests, for cracking down on press freedom, shutting down the internet frequently, and arresting activists.

Commenting on the debate, the Indian High Commission in the UK said in a statement, “We deeply regret that false assertions, without substantiation or fact, were made, casting aspersions on the largest functioning democracy in the world and its institutions.”

On allegations that the Indian government was curbing press freedom, the commission said, “Foreign media, including the British media, are present in India and have witnessed the events under discussion firsthand. The question of lack of freedom of the media in India does not arise.”