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456 animals died in Delhi Zoo in 3 years, including over 100 blackbucks, for reasons including cannibalism, shock: Details of RTI

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456 animals died in Delhi Zoo in 3 years, including over 100 blackbucks, for reasons including cannibalism, shock: Details of RTI

A Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that around 456 animals have died at the National Zoological Park in Delhi between April 1, 2018, and December 31, 2020. The said RTI was filed by animal rights activist Vivek Pandey on July 7 this year.

As per the data, about 245 animals died at the facility between April 1, 2018, and June 7, 2019. Another set of 115 animals died between July 8, 2019, and March 31, 2020. The RTI response also revealed that an additional 96 animals died at the National Zoological Park between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The leading causes of death include enteritis (70), shock (150), traumatic shock (47), senility (73), cirrhosis (30), pleurisy (12), tuberculosis (5), cannibalism (1), and so on.

Screengrab of the RTI query by Vivek Pandey

According to the RTI reply, several endangered species have lost their lives between 2018-2020. These include spotted deer (31), blackbuck (101), and tigers (6). IANS reported that the zoo also lost a white tigress named Nirbhaya after giving birth to two cubs. Her father, Vijay, had previously killed a man in 2014 when he fell within the tiger’s enclosure.

Animal rights activist demands constitution of a committee to probe cause of deaths

While speaking to OpIndia, animal rights activist Vivek Pandey said, “It’s depressing that more than 450+ animals have died at the zoo. I have also noticed that most animals have died due to shock. The RTI reply hasn’t elaborated on the ‘shock’ aspect. A fund of ₹157 crore was disbursed to the National Zoological Park. I have noticed that the cost of treatment was pretty less. It may be the case that the animals died due to poor treatment. One important aspect to note is that white Bengal tigers, tigresses, and lions have also died. Over 70 blackbucks have died due to shock.”

“Several endangered species, housed in the Delhi zoo, are dying. If the trend continues, then, they will become extinct. Zoos are built for their preservation but even then they are dying. This is a matter of investigation. It needs to be probed why the animals are dying so frequently. Now if this is the case in Delhi, one can anticipate the condition of Zoological parks in the other States of India. A high-level committee must be formed by the State and Central government to probe whether the animals had died due to the negligence of the zoo authorities. Based on the findings of the committee, a report must be published in the public domain. Adequate steps should be taken to prevent such deaths in the future,” he concluded.

Rajasthan: Congress government reneges on its promise, says it never promised loan waiver to all farmers

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Congress government reneges on its promise, says it never promised loan waiver to all farmers

While senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi projects himself as a pro-farmer leader, championing their cause and making promises of farm loan waiver, his party seldom honours commitments made by him. After Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the farmers in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, too, have realised that Rahul Gandhi’s promises of instant loan waiver were nothing but empty poll rhetorics as they have started receiving attachment notices for the payment of their loans.

Before the Rajasthan Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi had announced a farm loan waiver within 10 days of coming to power. However, despite being in the government for over two years, the farmers in the state are still waiting for the Congress government to fulfil their leader’s promise.

A report by Aaj Tak mentioned Ramgopal Jat, a farmer in the Jaipur district, who took a loan for Rs 3.5 lakhs and Rs 6 lakhs about 5 years ago. He has so far paid an interest of over Rs 6 lakhs to his bank. Yet, he received an attachment notice from his bank, asking him to pay Rs 13,07,756. Ramgopal laments he doesn’t have money to repay the loan and his bank has refused to grant him any further extension.

Similar is the predicament of hundreds of other farmers in Rajasthan who were hoping to get their loans waived off after Congress formed government in the state but were left disappointed after the party washed off its hands from the promises made by its foremost leader. The Ashok Gehlot government in the state has not even spared an 80-year-old Gangaram, who received an attachment notice for his loan of Rs 8 lakhs that has now swelled to Rs 14 lakhs in the last 5 years at 14 per cent interest.

In the run-up to the 2018 assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders repeatedly trotted out their commitment of forgoing farm loans once their party formed the government in the state. Shortly after coming to power in Rajasthan, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government waived off loans to small and marginal farmers who had sought loans only from the Bhoomi Vikas Bank and Co-operative Banks but left other farmers to fend for themselves.

Congress had promised to waive off farm loans if voted to power in Rajasthan , image via The Hindu

About 95 per cent of the farmers in Rajasthan took loans from government and private banks, but they were not considered for the loan waiver. Uday Lal Anjana, the Minister of Co-operation in Rajasthan, turned his back on the promise of granting loan waivers to farmers in the state. He said his government never promised to grant loan waivers to all the farmers in the state. The Aaj Tak report says that farmers in Rajasthan owe a staggering debt of Rs 1,20,979 crores to banks. As a result, the Congress government has lamented that it has no money in its treasury to waive off loans of every farmer in the state.

Congress modus operandi of exploiting farmers with false promises to gain votes

This is the modus operandi witnessed in many Congress-ruled states where Rahul Gandhi promises to waive off loans to lure farmers into voting for his party. When the Congress government is formed in the state, it bails on its commitments saying it never made any promise of loan waivers and its treasury to not fat enough to dole out waivers to each and every farmer in the state.

In February 2020, the then chief minister Kamal Nath admitted to the Madhya Pradesh Congress government’s failure in delivering the tall promises of farm loan waiver made by their supremo Rahul Gandhi during the Assembly elections campaign in 2018. Govind Singh, the General Administration Minister in Kamal Nath’s cabinet apologised while speaking at a government function.

A year before Kamal Nath’s admission, Congress minister Digvijay Singh’s younger brother Lakshman Singh had also conceded that Rahul Gandhi’s fraud promises of farm-loan waivers were nothing but a mere gimmick to con poor farmers to vote for Congress in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress loyalist had then capitulated that it was a mistake on Rahul Gandhi’s part to promise a complete loan waiver within 10 days if voted to power.

Indian ace shuttler PV Sindhu smashes her way into semifinals of Tokyo Olympics

OpIndia Staff
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Indian ace shuttler PV Sindhu smashes her way into semifinals of Tokyo Olympics

PV Sindhu is through to the semi-finals of the women’s singles category in Badminton in the Tokyo Olympics after defeating Akane Yamaguchi from Japan 21-13, 22-20 in the quarterfinals.

The ace badminton player has now reached the semi-finals in seven of the eight major tournaments she has played in.

PV Sindhu was 18-20 down in the second game but made a comeback to win the game 22-20 and take the match. Yamaguchi made a strong return in the second game but it was not enough to thwart the march of the Indian shuttler. Sindhu is now a match away from ensuring a medal for India. She is yet to lose a single game in the Tokyo Olympics.

She has entered the semi-final for the second consecutive Olympics, winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics. Earlier in the day, Lovlina Borgohain defeated Chin-Chen Nien and secured a place in the semifinals of the women’s welterweight category in Boxing, securing a second medal for India.

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was the first to win a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics, winning a silver in 49kg category of weightlifting.

Journalist who forged Rafale documents to lie about scam, now approaches Supreme Court alleging a snooping scandal that has no merit

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist who forged Rafale documents to lie about scam, now approaches Supreme Court alleging a snooping scandal that has no merit

On Friday (July 30), the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition filed by ‘journalists’ N. Ram and Sashi Kumar over the alleged snooping scandal by the Modi government against ‘142 prominent individuals’ using Israeli spyware Pegasus.

While representing the petitioners in the apex court, advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal sought an urgent hearing and claimed that the matter concerned ‘national security, fundamental rights, and civil liberties’ of citizens. The petition alleged, “Such mass surveillance using a military-grade spyware abridges several fundamental rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilise independent institutions that act as critical pillars of our democratic set-up.”

It further added, “Respondents (Ministries of Home, Information Technology and Communications) have not categorically ruled out obtaining Pegasus licences to conduct surveillance in their response, and have taken no steps to ensure a credible and independent investigation into these extremely serious allegations.” Accusing the government of spying, the petitioners alleged that it was an attempt to muzzle free speech and dissent. Furthermore, the petition claimed that the government bypassed Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act and targeted the civilians.

The matter was heard by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana. The petition by N. Ram and Sashi Kumar argued that the extent of ‘survelliance’ cannot be relied upon solely on governmental assessment. Labelling the use of the Pegasus spyware as ‘criminal offence’, it claimed that the malware can track and record calls, activate camera and microphone, read emails, texts, Whatsapp messages and even collect passwords. Citing Amnesty International, the petitioners claimed that the ‘surveillance targets’ had ‘Pegasus-induced security breaches’ on their phones.

Why the ‘Pegasus snooping scandal’ has no merit?

On July 18, the left-wing portal ‘The Wire’ claimed that the names of 40 Indian journalists were present in a list that contained names of people who were spied upon using Israeli spyware Pegasus. The 40 Indians were apparently among the thousands of people mentioned in the so-called leaked list, which were earlier reported by The Guardian. Pegasus is developed by Israeli cyber arms firm NSO Group, and reportedly it is only sold to governments. This software can infect iOS and Android devices remotely, and collect all kinds of data.

The Wire insinuated that as only governments could use the software, it meant that the Modi govt was spying on Indian journalists including Siddharth Varadarajan, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, M.K. Venu, Shishir Gupta, Rohini Singh etc. The report included quotes from the allegedly targeted journalists who directly blamed the Modi government for ‘spying’ on them. However, The Wire, or other international publications, did not provide any proof of the so-called spying. None of the media houses reporting the ‘leak’ shed light on the source of the data leak, the involvement of ‘specific’ governments or the objective behind such surveillance.

Following the controversy, the Indian government issued a statement responding to a questionnaire about the alleged leak. The statement stated, “The story being crafted is one that is not only bereft of facts but also founded in pre-conceived conclusions. It seems you are trying to play the role of an investigator, prosecutor as well as jury.” The government clarified both in RTI replies and in the Parliament that there had been no unauthorised interception by security agencies.

“The allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever. In India there is a well-established procedure through which lawful interception of electronic communication is carried out in order for the purpose of national security, particularly on the occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety, by agencies at the centre and states ,” the statement said. The NSO group had also refuted the claims by the Guardian report about the ‘leak’.

Days later, Amnesty International stated in a statement that they had never claimed that the so-called list was that of people who were spied on, and asserted that their ‘list’ was merely a mention of people who may be “potential targets” of the clients of NSO.

How N Ram manufactured the Rafale scam through digitally cropped documents?

One of the petitioners in the ‘Pegasus snopping scandal’ is N. Ram, the Chairman of the Kasturi & Sons Limited and publisher of The Hindu. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the journalist desperately tried to create an anti-Modi wave by manufacturing a ‘defence scam’ in the Rafale deal.

On February 8, 2019, The Hindu had published a note from a defence ministry official who had objected to the Prime Minister’s office inquiring about the progress of the deal. This was despite the fact that the officer was not involved in the negotiations of the deal. The Hindu wanted to project that there was opposition to the Rafale deal in the defence ministry and only the Prime Minister was pushing for it. In doing so, the newspaper had cropped a vital part in the same document, a note by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The then defence minister had written that the officer was overreacting, and offices of Indian PM and French President were just monitoring the progress of the deal.

Immediately after the Hindu report, ANI had published the full document, which had proved that N Ram had used a cropped version of the document in his article. About 10 days after the incident, The Hindu came up with a clarification, saying that it did not doctor the document. In its column Readers Editor, it has claimed that the document published by it was an earlier version, which didn’t include the Defence Minister’s note. As proof of the same, The Hindu had noted that the document published by ANI had serial numbers on each note, while there were no serial numbers on the document published by Hindu.

To hide the evidence of Parrikar’s note, the Hindu cropped the document in two places, and even digitally erased part of a stamp that should have been visible even after cropping the same. And its claim that it did not doctor the document turned out to be false, because a date stamp before the defence secretary’s note was clearly removed from the document. As such, the petition in the Supreme Court over the alleged snooping scandal looks like another desperate attempt at anti-Modi propaganda.

Times Radio host wants ‘entry level porn’ for children, deletes tweets after outrage

OpIndia Staff
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Times Radio host wants ‘entry level porn’ for children, deletes tweets after outrage

Times Radio host Flora Gill said on Thursday that someone ought to create pornography for children. Her comment, along expected lines, sparked outrage and consequently, she deleted her controversial tweet.

“Someone needs to create porn for children. Hear me out,” she said, before adding, “Young teens are already watching porn but theyre finding hard core, aggressive videos that give a terrible view of sex. They need entry level porn! A soft core site where everyone asks for consent and no one gets choked etc.”

Source: Twitter

The comment sparked outrage on social media, with people citicising her for the suggestion. Most mocked her for the tweet which they deemed to be utterly ridiculous.

Others were significantly more outraged by the suggestion.

Flora Gill has not issued any apology over the matter.

Flora Gill thrives on ‘hot take’ production

Flora Gill, in the past, has made several tweets that come across as rather unconventional. During a discussion with her mother Amber Rudd on Times Radio, she discussed whether sending nude photographs could be empowering. Rudd is a former Home Secretary of the United Kingdom and has been a Member of Parliament from the Conservative Party.

Source: Twitter

She has also penned an article on Coronavirus themed porn. “My job is weird,” she added as a side remark and we agree wholeheartedly.

Source: Twitter

On one occasion, she asked her audience what they would do if their boyfriend stops having sex with them because of their armpit hair.

Source: Twitter

Her tweets also demonstrate an inclination to provide information about her private sex life to her audience that most would prefer to keep between themselves and their partners.

Source: Twitter

From her tweets, it appears that the ‘porn for children’ suggestion was one step too far from Flora Gill. And that has attracted severe criticism from people online, sparking outrage that is unlikely to fade from public memory any time soon.

After Central govt and Bengal govt fail to respond, SC adjourns case demanding paramilitary forces in Bengal for 2 weeks

OpIndia Staff
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After Central govt and Bengal govt fail to respond, SC adjourns case demanding paramilitary forces in Bengal for 2 weeks

The Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing in a petition seeking a probe into the post-poll violence in West Bengal. On July 1st, the bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari had issued notices to the Central Govt, West Bengal govt and the Election Commission of India seeking their response on a PIL filed by UP based lawyer Ranjana Agnihotri and social worker Jitender Singh.

In the hearing today, the third respondent Election Commission was represented by a counsel, but there was no representation from the union govt and the West Bengal govt. This prompted the court to list the matter after two weeks. The bench also asked the petitioner to serve the notices again to the central and state govts.

Advocate Amit Sharma, who was representing the ECI, said that while notice has been served to all three parties, none of them have filed any counters.

The PIL was filed seeking the direction to the central government to deploy armed paramilitary forces in West Bengal to stop the post-poll violence by TMC workers against opposition workers, mainly BJP workers and their families. The petitioners also sought the setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for probing the causes and reasons of post-poll violence in West Bengal.

The petition filed through Advocate Hari Shankar Jain had said that the PIL has been filed in extraordinary circumstances as thousands of residents of West Bengal are being terrorized, penalised and tortured by the workers of TMC for supporting BJP during the assembly polls. It said that thousands of mostly Hindu citizens of West Bengal are being targeted by Muslims to take revenge for supporting BJP, as they want to crush Hindus so that their chosen party remains in power for years to come.

The PIL also narrated how TMC contested the elections on communal basis, and how the violence started in the state just after the declaration of the election results. The PIL had also accused the Election Commission of failure to stop communal appeals made by the TMC. The petitioners further added that no action was taken by the state administration and police against the violence, which has already been established by the report by the NHRC committee.

Responding the petition, the apex court on July 1 had issued notices to three parties, central govt, state govt and ECI, but had refused to issue notice to CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Complaint filed against Anurag Kashyap directed film Ghost Stories on Netflix for “foetus eating scene”

OpIndia Staff
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Complaint filed against Anurag Kashyap directed film Ghost Stories on Netflix for “foetus eating scene”

A complaint was filed against director Anurag Kashyap’s Netflix anthology Ghost Stories for a scene in which actress Sobhita Dhulipala’s character could be seen consuming a foetus after suffering a miscarriage. 

The complaint was filed under the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. It said the scene was superfluous and there was no need to incorporate it in the short film. The complaint also said that a trigger warning should have been added for women who have gone through the trauma of miscarriages if the creators wished to add such a scene. 

This is amongst the first grievances filed against the newly formulated Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February this year. As per the new guidelines, the complaint needs to be registered within 24 hours and a resolution needs to be reached as soon as possible.

As of now, Netflix’s grievance redressal officer is looking into the matter. According to a report published by Mid-Day, the OTT platform’s spokesperson reached out to the production company RSVP Movies and Flying Unicorn Entertainment to share the complaint. 

Anurag Kashyap reportedly reacted to the complaint filed against his directed short film. As per his Instagram story that is no longer visible, he said, “So it has started… A complaint came to Netflix on Ghost Stories. This is the end.”

Ghost Stories in an anthology of short films directed by Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar. It was released on New Year’s Day in 2020 on Netflix. Ghost Stories is the third of three anthology films from them, which was preceded by Bombay Talkies in 2013 and Lust Stories in 2018. Lust Stories was also released on Netflix.

Shiv Sena workers arrested for thrashing delivery boy in Mumbai, two on the run: Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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Shiv Sena workers arrested for thrashing delivery boy in Mumbai, two on the run: Here is what happened

The Maharashtra police arrested four Shiv Sena workers, including a leader, for assaulting a delivery boy in the Kandivali area of Mumbai.

According to the reports, on Thursday, an e-commerce delivery agent Rahul Sharma, resident of Jai Hind Chawl, Poisar Kandivali East, registered a complaint against Shiv Sena leaders in Samta Nagar Police Station.

In his complaint, Rahul Sharma said that he worked as a delivery person for an e-commerce site. He detailed that when he had gone to the Poisar area to deliver a parcel, it started raining heavily. So he took shelter under the shade outside the Poisar Shivaji Maidan branch office of Shiv Sena, the complainant said.

Shiv Sena leader Chandrakant Nineve, who was present at the office at that time, approached Sharma and stepped on the delivery parcels. As the complainant asked Nineve to take care of the parcel, the Shiv Sena leader started abusing him. The arguments between the two escalated, and Nineve with five other Shiv Sena workers assaulted Sharma, the police said.

A case has been registered against six members, out of which four have been arrested. Two Shiv Sena workers have been on the run, the police said.

The police added that a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the six Shiv Sena workers. “Four accused are arrested while two are still absconding. Further investigation in the case is underway,” the Maharashtra police said.

Pakistani terrorists could target Hindu Temples in J&K on Aug 5th and Independence Day to spark tensions, intel says

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistani terrorists could target Hindu Temples in J&K on Aug 5th and Independence Day to spark tensions, intel says

Indian intelligence agencies believe that Pakistani terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed could target Hindu Temples in Jammu & Kashmir on the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 to spark communal tensions. According to reports, they have received information that Hindu Temples could be attacked on the 5th of August and on Independence Day on the 15th of August.

Consequently, security has been increased in the state. On Thursday, drones were spotted at three different locations in Jammu & Kashmir. The first was spotted at Samba’s Ghajwal police station area and ITBP centre, the second at Chliyari International Border area and the third at the Bari Brahma area. Consequently, a high alert has been sounded.

Drones have increased in the area. On Friday (July 22), the Jammu and Kashmir police shot down a Pakistani drone, carrying 5kg of explosives, at Kanachak near Jammu.

On June 27, the Indian Air Force tweeted that two low-intensity explosions took place in the technical area of Jammu Air Force Station. The blasts took place at around 1:42 AM on Sunday and were so powerful they could be heard till 1 km distance. The drone dropped the bombs at a location close to the Helicopter hangar. The IAF suspected that these attacks were intended to target the strategic assets of the Indian Air Force located inside the airbase.

With August 5 and Independence Day approaching, security has been beefed up to thwart any possible mischief in the states by terrorists from across the border.

Illegal campsites of farmer protests at Delhi border have become a hub of flesh trade, drugs and alcohol, reveals report

OpIndia Staff
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Illegal campsites of farmer protests at Delhi border have become a hub of flesh trade, drugs and alcohol, reveals report

The day Icchadhari ‘protestor’ Yogendra Yadav in an opinion piece claimed that the farmer protest is protecting the ‘idea of India,’ a sting operation by Zee Hindustan on the very same revealed the ugly side of it. 

National Highway 09 also known as Tikri Border has been shut for the past six months with alleged farmers protesting against the Farm Laws. What started with blocking the highway and eventually led to a siege of the Red Fort on Republic Day, the ‘farmer protests’ have now turned into a breeding ground for flesh trade, as per the report.

In a shocking revelation, a Zee Hindustan reporter disguised as a farmer unearthed rampant sex trade taking place at the protesting sites. In a blatant confession, a sex worker sitting just outside the bushes on Rohtak Highway revealed that she regularly gets customers from the protesting site who pay anywhere between Rs 100-500.

As per the report, multiple sex workers have set up their camps and tents close to the Tikri Border. The reporter was also taken on a tour of the site by a fake farmer who revealed the perks of participating in the protest.

The man can be heard saying that one gets alcohol, Rs 300 per day and sex. When the reporter spoke to a local on the condition at the borders, he revealed that almost everyone is intoxicated post 7 pm. So much so that at times they come in front of vehicles passing by. He also claimed that these farmers make video calls back home while drinking or from the sex sites to provoke their families to come to the borders.

In the visuals, one can see an alleged farmer lying on the roadside in an inebriated condition. When questioned, the local revealed that he had taken drugs. The intoxicated ‘farmer protestors’ also often create nuisance in the neighbouring areas, as per reports.

Haryana Police takes cognizance of the matter

Taking cognizance of the matter, SHO Vijay Kumar said that strict action will be taken against the flesh trade and an investigation will be initiated in this matter.

Kumar also informed that this is not the first time that cases of flesh trade from near the protesting sites have come to the fore. An investigation was carried out previously as well with enhanced patrolling in the area. 

“People sitting at the borders are there for drugs”

A farmer in an interview with the news channel revealed that the BKU leader Rakesh Tikait himself is a fake farmer and gets people for Rs 300 to sit at the borders. “He is defaming the real farmers by doing this. The real farmers are working in the fields,” said the man.

“The ones sitting at the borders are all there for drugs,” he added.

Another farmer said that the Farm Laws are very much in favor of the farmers and the real ones are toiling hard in the field. 

“Nobody is a farmer there. They are all mafias,” echoed other farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. 

From Bhindranwale posters to cases of murder and lynching, the ongoing farmer protests seem to have very little to do with actual farmers.

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