The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday summoned the British High Commissioner to India to register the country’s protest after the UK parliament debated the farmers’ protest and the attack on press freedom. In a statement, the MEA termed the debate in the British parliament as ‘gross interference’ in India’s internal politics. This came even after a British Labour MP invoked the Cobrapost sting operation to discredit the tweets from Indian celebrities against the farmers’ protest.
It said, “Foreign Secretary made clear that this represented a gross interference in the politics of another democratic country.” According to the statement, ‘The Foreign Secretary summoned the British High Commissioner and conveyed strong opposition to the unwarranted and tendentious discussion on agricultural reforms in India in the British Parliament.’ “He advised that British MPs should refrain from practising vote bank politics by misrepresenting events, especially in relation to another fellow democracy,” the statement added.
The British parliament on Monday held a long debate when MPs from the Labour party, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party expressed their concern over the Indian government’s response to the ongoing farmers’ protests.
Responding to the MPs’ concern, the British government had said that it will raise the country’s concerns with India when the two prime ministers meet in the future.
Meanwhile, British Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP, took to Twitter to invoke the sting operation carried out by the Cobrapost website to discredit the Indian celebrities’ support for the government in countering the support for the farmers’ protest by international celebrities such as Rihanna, Greta Thunberg and Meena Harris.
Dhesi wrote, “Farcical way some Indian actors and cricketers copy pasted and tweeted official Govt line simultaneously, to weaken #FarmersProtest movement, exposed to a global audience 2019 Cobrapost “cash for tweets” sting operation, but also severely dented their credibility and conscience.”
Farcical way some Indian actors and cricketers copy pasted and tweeted official Govt line simultaneously, to weaken #FarmersProtest movement, exposed to a global audience 2019 Cobrapost “cash for tweets” sting operation, but also severely dented their credibility and conscience. pic.twitter.com/BbBskZrHaa
— Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP (@TanDhesi) March 9, 2021
Last month, several Indian celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Ajay Devgn, Saina Nehwal and Karan Johar had posted near-identical tweets to parrot the Indian government’s line in a bid to counter tweets shared by international celebrities. The Indian celebrities had faced public ire for surrendering to government pressure and speaking in favour of the protesting farmers, who are demanding the withdrawal of the controversial Farm Laws.