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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SIR rolled out to 'cut' SC, BC, minorities votes; Cong will protect them: K'taka deputy CM
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday charged the SIR of electoral rolls was being rolled out to "cut" SC, BC and minorities votes, and said the ruling Congress in the state will ensure that they are "protected".
Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, said that the party is educating all its leaders regarding Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.
The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the rollout of phase-3 of the SIR in 16 states and three Union Territories involving 36.73 crore voters in a phased manner beginning May 30. Karnataka was also being covered.
"We know that (SIR being rolled out), we have got all information. We are educating all the party leaders. Across the party line -- let BJP and JD(S) also secure all their votes," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "it's (SIR) aim is to see to that Scheduled Caste, backward class and the minority votes are cut. But we will see that it is protected. Every one born in India should have their right."
"In Karnataka 88 to 90 per cent has been mapped (mapping of electors). But still we will try to educate all of them," he added.
Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana are the opposition-ruled among the states where the SIR exercise will be held.
The final voters' roll of Karnataka will be out on October 7.
A section of leaders and organisations opposed to SIR had met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last week and urged the government to take urgent steps to protect the voting rights of the state's electorate from the process.
They termed the Special Intensive Revision an "undemocratic and unscientific" process that "pushes out" voters.
