An organization named ‘Kaur (Core) Farmers’ organized a webinar on November 22 to discuss the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on repealing the three Agriculture Laws.
In the online meeting, Bharatiya Kisan Union’s leader Rakesh Tikait, Khalistani sympathizer Mo Dhaliwal and associate of ISI operative Pieter Friedrich were some of the speakers. Other speakers included Monica Gill, Preet Kaur Gill, Asis Kaur, Claudia Webbe and several others who had been pushing the anti-India narrative across the world in the backdrop of the farmer protests. OpIndia accessed multiple recordings of the meeting that is available online.
A Twitter handle named ‘where-is-proof’ had shared a screenshot of the zoom call. Upon investigation, OpIndia stumbled upon a recording of the webinar.
‘There are many more issues’ – Tikait urges to continue the protests
Raj Kaur, the host from Kaur Farmers, introduced Tikait as the leader who convinced everyone to continue the protests after the January 26 violence. When asked if Tikait was happy with the news of laws being repealed, he said, “It is okay that they are repealing the laws. But the other issues still persist. We have many other issues like MSP, the death of the protestors, and more. The talks with the government should begin. There is seed bill, milk policies, electricity bill and whatnot.” Tikait was quite adamant in his stance that he was not interested in letting the protests end and sending the protestors home.
Notably, on December 5, Tikait had announced that the next target the protestors were looking at was the privatization of the banks. The alleged farmer leader openly turned into a professional aandolanjivi. Earlier, he had announced that he would not let the protests fade away before Lok Sabha Elections in 2024, and it seemed his mind was clear that he would find one or the other way to keep the protests alive for his own greed for the limelight.
No mention of BJP supporters being killed at Lakhimpur
When speaking about Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Tikait said that as of now, they were satisfied as three judges were monitoring the Lakhimpur case under the supervision of the Supreme Court. He further added that his union had its own committee that was looking over the proceedings in the case, and they would go and stay in Lakhimpur from December 6 onwards for three days.
Interestingly, while both host and Tikait said they wanted justice for the protestors who were killed in the Lakhimpur incident, none of them mentioned the BJP supporters who were brutally lynched by the protestors. Nonetheless, it was expected they would not talk about BJP supporters getting justice as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha suspended their favourite aandolanjeevi Yogendra Yadav for merely visiting the house of the BJP support Late Shubham Mishra who was killed in the incident.
‘Farmer commits suicide as they do not get the right price’, claimed Tikait
When asked what the unions were doing for the farmers’ suicides that had been happening even before the farm laws, Tikait seemed a little clueless and caught off guard. Tikait claimed the main reason for farmer suicides was that they were not getting the right price for the produce. The expenses have increased, and farmers often have financial issues. “The inflation in the market and low income force them to commit suicide,” Tikait said.
This is an interesting point of view because if he had read the Agriculture laws that the government had brought but repealed because of these protests, they talked about giving farmers more options to sell their products and increase their income. Instead of talking to the government for amendments, the unions pushed the narrative as if the government was against the farmers. Sadly, these laws were on the same line as the reforms that these unions had demanded for decades.
No separate efforts for women
The host asked Tikait if they were doing anything specific for the female farmers. As clueless on other issues, Tikait was fumbling while talking about women in the protests. He claimed there were no separate policies for women by the government. The union leader seemed to be unaware of the Mudra Loan, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, Jan Dhan Yojna, Ujjwala Yojna, toilets, Beti Bachao Beti Padao and many others that largely benefit women of the country.
‘I do not know about Matthewara’
In 2020, Punjab Government bought around 400 acres of land near Mattewara forest, village Sekhowal Gram Panchayat, Ludhiana, to develop an industrial corridor in the area. The majority of the said land was owned by the Dalit community, and there has been resistance by the locals. As per reports, the Dalit community made a sizeable barren land cultivable after decades worth of effort since they moved there in 1996. However, as the government had decided to take over the land, the Dalit community in the region alleged they felt helpless and cheated.
When Tikait was asked if the unions were doing anything for these Dalit farmers in Punjab, he categorically denied any knowledge of it and asked to talk to the unions in Punjab. The host, who looked shocked, asked if the Kisan unions were doing anything for the Dalits and landless farmers at all. This is where the ‘landowner’ Tikait got irked by the question.
Tikait, who himself owned lands and properties in 13 different locations and has a worth of around 80 crores, alleged that there was no discrimination among landowner farmers and landless farmers in the villages. He further claimed that everyone helped each other in the villages. Interestingly, if that was the case, there would not have been farmer suicides at all across the country. There have been several reports of Zamindars or landowners exploiting the landless farmers who do not have a choice but to work on others’ lands.
On the other hand, the government of India is tirelessly working to improve the condition of landless and marginalized farmers. In the past, the majority of the benefits were going to the rich farmers, and the marginalized would not get the actual benefit of the schemes. From giving them ownership of land to neem coated urea and financial support, these marginalized farmers are slowly getting the benefits they deserve. But the union leader, as it seems, remain unaware of what has been happening as he feels there was no discrimination.
Associate of ISI operative introduced as historian and author
Pieter Friedrich, a known associate of ISI operative and the one who has been on security agencies’ radar for a very long time, was introduced in the meeting as a ‘historian and author’. Friedrich claimed that no one would have thought that a farmer movement could push back the Modi government. He compared the farm laws that the unions themselves had been demanding for decades as forced and poisonous.
He said, “The farmer protests is just one chapter. The real villain is still holding power. We have won the battle, but the war must go on.” He further questioned where would the tractors go next. Calling the Modi government fascist, he alleged that the Muslims, Christians and activists who talk against the government are being attacked. He urged the farmer protestors to support these communities. He called for “to move towards Azadi”. It is unclear what Azadi was talking about.
Notably, after Friedrich completed his ‘pre-prepared speech that he read during the meeting, the host very proudly confirmed that he had been spreading the narrative against BJP and RSS across the world. She further claimed that Hitler took inspiration from the RSS. The so-called intellectuals have been claiming that RSS was inspired by Hitler, but the host seemed to have a whole new theory.
‘The battle does not end with the repeal of farm laws’ Mo Dhaliwal
Mo Dhaliwal, a well known Khalistani sympathizer, said when he came to know about the protests in November 2020, he was sure that the protests would last long. He said, “We needed international attention for the protests.” Explaining how his organization Poetic Justice Foundation was involved in spreading the word about the protests, he claimed that reports of his connection with Rihana and Greta Thunberg were ridiculous. Interestingly, he claimed so while it was the toolkit that was made under his supervision which Greta had shared, and the whole nexus was exposed.
Mo further claimed that there were no efforts from the government for dialogue. He further alleged that the way the Modi government works could be described as ‘structural violence’ as all policies of the government were against the people of India. He also mentioned that the spark of anti-regime was seen in CAA protests.
Remembering his speech from early January 2020 where he said, “The battle does not end with the repeal of farm laws. It actually begins there,” Mo claimed he was misunderstood. Interestingly, in the same three-minute speech, he talked about Khalistan as well and how he was allegedly misunderstood, only he could know. He clearly called for continuous protests against the government to possibly cause unrest in India. He said, “The onus on us to continue the fight.”
The misinformation and fake news spread by groups like Poetic Justice Foundation and individuals like Rakesh Tikait and Pieter Friedrich not only forced the government to repeal the laws that were indeed for the benefit of the farmers, it has pushed India back several years in terms of reforms. It is noteworthy that Tikait has recently threatened of 26 January 2021 like violence again.
