In an attempt to revive its dying political fortunes, the Congress party seems to have no compunction in throwing the country into chaos and disorder. After being involved in fuelling the farm protests that have currently swept the national capital and the surrounding regions, leaders of the Congress party have now resorted to peddling propaganda to paint the Modi government as anti-farmers and apathetic towards them.
To this end, a bevvy of Congress leaders and supporters are sharing misleading pictures and making unsubstantiated claims to assert that the Modi government has been indifferent to the demands of the so-called farmers protesting against the newly passed agriculture bills and using brute force to suppress the ongoing protests.
One such notorious pictures that are doing the rounds on the Internet is that of a law enforcement personnel wielding a baton against an alleged demonstrator. Several Congressmen and party supporters have been sharing this image to allege that the security officials tasked with preventing the protests from turning violent are ruthlessly charging the demonstrators with batons and lathis.
Congress leaders share the misleading picture to peddle anti-Modi propaganda
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is, perhaps, gearing up another relaunch against the backdrop of farm protests, shared the spurious image to criticise the Modi government. Lamenting over the deceitful picture, Gandhi said that it is very dangerous that because of PM Modi’s arrogance, the ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ slogan has contorted into Jawan(soldier) standing up against Kisan(farmer).
बड़ी ही दुखद फ़ोटो है। हमारा नारा तो ‘जय जवान जय किसान’ का था लेकिन आज PM मोदी के अहंकार ने जवान को किसान के ख़िलाफ़ खड़ा कर दिया।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 28, 2020
यह बहुत ख़तरनाक है। pic.twitter.com/1pArTEECsU
Another senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also shared the misleading image to express his solidarity with farmers. “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” he sanctimoniously tweeted along with the picture.
जय जवान जय किसान! pic.twitter.com/ZmUeAN43yY
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 27, 2020
With senior Congress leaders sharing the deceptive image, Congress bots too joined their political masters in perpetuating the propaganda that the Modi government has pitted the soldiers against the farmers. A raft of Congress supporters and bots shared the image to illustrate the ‘heavy-handedness’ of the BJP government in dealing with the farm protests.
Jai Jawan Jai Kisan
— Sid (@Sidliciousx) November 28, 2020
Never imagined we will see this.. apas me hi ladwa diya humare apno ko 💔💔
I will never forgive & forget it #KisanVirodhiNarendraModi#IamWithFarmers#FarmerProtest #FarmersBill2020 #DelhiChalo #kisanandolan #IamWithFarmer #kisanektazindabaad pic.twitter.com/3Xnp0m4R59
Friends, this picture is the most heart-warming for this country. In our country, slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan is chanted. The traitor leaders of this country are fighting jawan and farmer among themselves, the government is proving anti-farmer governmen#किसान_विरोधी_मोदी_सरकार pic.twitter.com/zFU05oy3JJ
— umagopalkumar (@umagopalkumar) November 28, 2020
It is a very sad photo. India slogan was “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”
— Alamgir Rizvi(عالمگیر رضوی) (@alamgirizvi) November 28, 2020
But today PM Modi arrogance made the jawan, stand against The Kisan. pic.twitter.com/TURiJkqE3O
The reality about the picture showcasing a police officer about to beat up an aged protester
However, pictures often don’t reveal the entire story. A complete video of the incident from which the image has been cunningly edited out demonstrates an altogether different story.
The video shows that the law enforcement official who is portrayed in the image as beating up an old ‘farmer’ simply swings the baton in the air to scare the protester away. The baton did not touch the protester. Yet, the Congress leaders and its IT cell bots have been deceitfully using the picture to paint the security official as the oppressor and the protester as the victim.
Police didn’t even touch the farmer, just waved the stick in air but one pic is smartly being used to make police the villian.
— Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) November 28, 2020
For their propaganda this is how Congress ecosystem can make anyone villian. pic.twitter.com/XfATCVppsb
It is true that the police has used limited force to disperse some violent protestors, however, it has to be kept in mind that the protestors did get violence in several places.
On the 26th of November, several farmers at the Sambhu border had pelted stones.
#WATCH | Protestors pelt stones at the Shambhu border (Punjab-Haryana border) pic.twitter.com/nRs0fyFd01
— ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2020
Several other images and videos of violence by the protestors have also emerged. Under such circumstances, the security forces had to use limited force to ensure the situation does not go out of hands.
Clearly, the Congress supporters and senior Congress leaders edited out an instance from the entire video which favoured their nefarious propaganda of branding Modi government as a regime working against the interest of the farmers.
With no possible issue to counter the Modi government, the Congress seems to have manufactured the ongoing turmoil in the country so as to use it as a leverage against the current dispensation. Spurious images are being shared and misleading narratives of farmers being oppressed by the newly passed bills are being weaved to concoct a resentment among public against the Modi government.
Congress orchestrated ‘farm’ protests sees participation from pro-Khalistani elements
Ever since the Modi government passed the three agriculture bills in the parliament which aimed to remove the middlemen from the sale and purchase of the produce, thereby profoundly benefitting farmers, the Congress party has tried to sow the seeds of doubts and apprehensions among the farmers to rally them against the Centre. They have alleged that the new bills were an attempt to remove Minimum Selling Price (MSP) and alleged that the Modi government brought these bills to facilitate large players in the agriculture business.
The protests which are fuelled by the Congress party behind the veil of ‘farm’ demonstrations have seen participation from pro-Khalistan elements. On several instances during the so-called farm protests, banners of Khalistani proponent Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were raised. The protests have also been marked by Khalistani slogans and the alleged demonstrators were seen on camera gloating about the former PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination and menacingly threatening of dishing out a similar fate to PM Modi.