TOI (Times of India) ran a story about a farmer father-son duo committing suicide by consuming poison to protest against the Modi government’s alleged attitude towards the ongoing farmer agitations.
The article read:
“A man-son farmer duo committed suicide by consuming celphos tablets (a common agri fumigant that causes acute aluminium phosphide poisoning) to protest against the attitude of the Modi government on the farm stir against three contentious farm bills and also due to failure of the Punjab government in waiving off farm loans. They had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from a village cooperative society.
Jagtar Singh (70) and his son Kirpal Singh (42) of Mahadipur village near Dasuya in Hoshiarpur district wrote separate suicide notes and consumed the tablets late on Friday night and their family came to know about the suicide pact on Saturday morning. The police later recovered two suicide notes.”
The first impression one would get after reading the headlines and the initial paragraph is that two farmers lost their lives due to farm laws passed by the central government. At least that is the impression TOI intended to deliver but its own report has exposed its lies as the suicide note of the farmer duo quoted by TOI indicates.
While the suicide notes do mention the farmer agitations and the Modi government, the fact remains that the primary reason for their suicide is that the Congress government of Punjab did not honor its promise of loan waiver. This has been clearly mentioned in Kripal Singh’s suicide note which says “The Captain government did not waive off loans after making promises. We own just one-acre land but our loan has not been waived off. All make false promises for votes”.
Further, the police investigations have also confirmed that the duo owed a sum of INR 3 lakhs. TOI report says “Dasuya DSP Manish Kumar, who visited their home along with Dasuya SHO, said that inquiries from the family revealed that the father-son duo had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from village Usmaanpur Shaheedan cooperative society.”
By not highlighting the role of the Punjab Congress state government in the entire episode, TOI has resorted to dishonest journalism and made an attempt to place the entire blame at the Centre’s doorsteps. The left liberal-fascist media which is Hindumisic (Hindudveshi) to the core often spins the story to somehow blame the BJP which it regards as a Hindutva party.
For left liberal-fascist media, Congress should always be shielded from blame even if it is the stands accused of wrongdoing and BJP should always be blamed irrespective of facts proving otherwise. Media bias and not facts dictate how news gets covered.
This case highlights yet again how farmers are being misled and perception is being created that the Modi government is being rigid. The truth, however, is that the Modi government has reached out to the farmers and even offered to suspend the farm laws. If the Centre wanted to impose its man ki baat rather than listening to the farmers, it wouldn’t have held as many as 10 rounds of discussions with the farmers.
It is worth pointing out that the Modi government readily accepted the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the 2020 farm laws for two months. Additionally, they even opted to voluntarily dangle the carrot of extended abeyance of 18 months to coax the protestors to go home. Despite all the attempts to reach out and solve farmer’s issues, farmer leaders continue to remain stubborn and it is this stubbornness of farmer leaders that are now, unfortunately, costing human lives.
(Featured Image Source: TOI)
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