Twitter not convinced with ANI's 'Farmers' who hailed farm bills passed by Rajya Sabha
New Delhi: Amidst the political uproar surrounding the two agricultural bills passed by the Parliament on Sunday, news agency ANI found some farmers in various parts of the country who announced their support for the two bills.
In a story from Kanpur, ANI reported that farmers in the district welcomed the new agriculture reform bills.
"We welcome the farm bill but the central govt should think more about the farmers. They should exclude the role of middlemen & take steps to ensure that farmers don't commit suicide," farmers were quoted as saying by ANI.
The story was posted on Twitter by the news agency, but soon the reactions from other users made it evident that it had failed to convince people about its authenticity.
Twitterati who outrightly declared it propaganda and started finding fault in the story. Noted activist Darshan Mondkar took a dig at the story and wrote “I love the farms in Kanpur UP. I mean, look at the healthy farmers sitting in the beautiful lined trees. And check the lovely boundary wall and the iron grills over it. Then check the Gate in the background. Also notice how all these farmers have such identical looking fields. There is so much beauty in uniformity. If this is how the farms look in Kanpur..... I wonder how the rest of Uttar Pradesh looks. Disclaimer: UNESCO has declared ANI as the first News Agency in the world to take pictures of a bunch of "Ramu Kaka"s in the city garden and pass them as farmers. This is also a great contribution to Adityanath's dream of building the World's Best Film City in UP” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Here are other reactions from Twitter:
Dear @ANI, my 2 tweets thread ?
— Amit Tyagi (@hiambuj) September 21, 2020
1. All 4 "farmers" in this pic are sitting in a park, not farm.
2. Ashoka tree, Palm tree & other such plants/trees in the pics are NOT part of farming.
3. Farmer 1 & 3 wearing same brand new pink gamcha.
(1/2) https://t.co/40eegR8qQ1
These actors are farmers but the ones getting their bones broken are terrorists according to BJP's media arm ANI and propaganda face Runout respectively. https://t.co/g0F2ZJADgc
— Sangram Satpathy (@sangramsatpath9) September 21, 2020
ANI's farmers https://t.co/gnUquzBUG3 pic.twitter.com/hJvfkq3MAH
— JackBo ManHorse (@basedIITian) September 21, 2020
ANI meeting Farmers to discuss Farm Bills#BJPKilledDemocracy #AllNonsenseNautanki pic.twitter.com/Bbyd1JegZl
— Banglar Gorbo Mamata (@BengalBachao) September 21, 2020
Also what the gamcha that the "farmer" in pic 1 has around his shoulders is suspiciously brand new and similar to the one tied around the head on pic 3 ? https://t.co/SdOQIdavBm
— Suresh Mathew (@Suresh_Mathew_) September 21, 2020
ANI Went to a Park ( Look at the Gate ). Picked some “Farmers” who told them they welcome the Farm Bill and gave insights on excluding role of middlemen pic.twitter.com/YKhjeGomT2
— Joy (@Joydas) September 21, 2020
Amazing how all four farmers gave ANI the EXACT SAME quote. ?? https://t.co/brr0R12emE
— Kunal Purohit (@kunalpurohit) September 21, 2020
ANI's tweet would make it seem like these are farmers from different parts of Kanpur district. Actually, they're all sitting around the same tree.
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 21, 2020
And how does one ascribe the same quote to multiple people? https://t.co/eFwrO04W8L pic.twitter.com/v3eCzeUpIN
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SC seeks ED's response on journalist's bail plea in money laundering case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response within three days on a bail plea of journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case linked to an alleged financial fraud.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the jailed journalist, to file rejoinder, if needed, to the ED's response within two days of it being filed.
The top court fixed the case for further hearing on December 15.
During the brief hearing on Monday, Sibal said a journalist has been facing as many as six cases.
"The journalist is accused of extortion," the counsel for the ED said and sought a short adjournment on the ground that Solicitor General Tuhar Mehta was unavailable at the moment.
The top court on September 8 sought responses from the Gujarat government and the ED on Langa's bail plea.
While issuing the notices on Langa's bail plea, the bench asked, "What kind of a journalist is he?"
"With due respect, there are some very genuine journalists. But there are also people who on their scooter say we are 'patrakar' (journalists) and what they actually do everybody knows," the bench told Sibal.
Sibal replied that these are all allegations.
"In one FIR, he gets anticipatory bail, then a second FIR is lodged and again anticipatory bail is granted but now he is booked under a third FIR for income tax evasion. There are other things also against him," Sibal submitted.
He added that there is a background to the case also.
On July 31, the Gujarat High Court rejected Langa's bail plea in the money laundering case on the grounds that if released on bail, prejudice would be caused to the prosecution case.
On February 25, the ED said it arrested Langa in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged financial fraud.
He was first arrested in October 2024 in a GST fraud case.
The money laundering case against Langa stems from two FIRs filed by Ahmedabad police on charges of fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of lakhs of rupees to certain people.
