One-sided & False Assertions: India Condemns UK Lawmakers’ Debate on Farmers’ Stir

London, Mar 09: The High Commission of India in London has condemned a debate among some British lawmakers on an e-petition over the right of peaceful protests and freedom of the press in India amid the ongoing farmers' stir against three New Delhi laws on agricultural reform.

The Commission damned the debate, held on Monday evening inside the British parliamentary premises, as "false assertions" in a "distinctly one-sided discussion". "We deeply regret that rather than a balanced debate, false assertions - without substantiation or facts - were made, casting aspersions on the largest functioning democracy in the world and its institutions," the commission said in a statement after the Monday evening debate on an e-petition.

The debate was held in response to an e-petition which had crossed the 100,000-signature threshold, required for it to be approved by the House of Commons Petitions Committee. The Indian High Commission made its displeasure known despite the British government earlier reiterating that the three New Delhi laws on agricultural reform were a "domestic matter".