Amidst the ongoing protest by ‘farmers’ against the farms bills passed by the Modi government, a video shared by Times of India (TOI) has gone viral on social media which shows Biryani being served to ‘farmers’ camping in Ghazipur, Delhi. The video captioned “Biryani time at Ghazipur farmers protest spot” by TOI, showed hundreds of protestors queueing up for free Biryani.
Biryani time at Ghazipur farmers protest spot#DelhiChalo #DelhiFarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/iziM5Q3vWE
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) November 30, 2020
The video attracted a barrage of reactions on the micro-blogging platform as it brought back the memories of the ‘organic’ Shaheen Bagh protests, where Islamists sat on a so-called ‘protest’ beginning in December last year, against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Netizens were quick to draw equivalences between the ongoing farmers’ protest at Delhi border areas and the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh, which had turned out to be a professionally organised left-wing managed anti-India event.
Biryani at the farmers’ protest brings back memories of the ‘organic’ Shaheen Bagh protests
Reacting to the video, some social media users opined that the farmers’ protest was the season 2 of Shaheen Bagh protests. “After roaring success of “Kudrati Biryani-PincherProtests” Presenting Season 2 of India’s biggest Nautanki (aka Reality Show): Shahinbagh 2 theme is: “Kudrati Biryani-FarmerProtests”, wrote one social media user.
After roaring success of “Kudrati Biryani-PincherProtests”
— Krishna (@Krishna41411481) November 30, 2020
Presenting Season 2 of India’s biggest Nautanki (aka Reality Show):
Shahinbagh 2 theme is : “Kudrati Biryani-Farmer Protests”😂#Biryani #FarmersProtestHijacked #welldonesudhirchoudhry #GuruNanakJayanti #Sikh pic.twitter.com/rw9jNyUZUB
One user opined that Biryani has become the staple diet for the “new age protestors”.
Staple diet for the new age protestor. https://t.co/UPhDVangG0
— Rami Niranjan Desai (@ramindesai) November 30, 2020
There is this one Twitter user who opined that the radical Islamic organisations, leftist parties, AAP and Congress who helped to stage the Shaheen Bagh ‘protests’ are the ones who are behind this so-called ‘farmers’ protest.
@TimesNow Pak ISI PFI @INCIndia @AamAadmiParty Left parties sponsored Shaheen Bagh Biryani at Ghazipur so-called farmers protest’s against farm bill passed by the @narendramodi Govt . https://t.co/10ZIuiOiZC
— Neeraj Khanna (@NeerajK35713705) November 30, 2020
Twitter user Mihir Jha felt that the “ShaheebBagh-ification of farmers protest is complete” since the “Biryani brigade is back on Roads”.
Biryani brigade is back on Roads
— Mihir Jha ✍️ (@MihirkJha) November 30, 2020
ShaheebBagh-ification of Farmers protest is complete. IB should be alert https://t.co/VHVXmPEOtC
Shaheen Bagh protests were well-oiled, well-funded (plus, biryani)
It may be recalled how OpIndia’s ground report had earlier talked about biryani being brought in then to be distributed amongst the Shaheen Bagh ‘protestors’ and ‘volunteers’. Along with biryani, there was packaged water, fruit juices and other snacks made available. If this was not enough, there was a music system there, where rental charges are anything between Rs 8,000 to 10,000 per day. The tent would cost anything between 10,000 to 30,000 per day. During day time, there are about 200-300 ‘protestors’ who are provided with water and tea and free food. On average, these protests had cost about Rs 10,00,000 per day.
Moreover, a video shared by BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya had also exposed how protesting women at Shaheen Bagh were paid between ₹500 and ₹700 on a daily basis. A man who had appeared in the video had also claimed that the protestors worked in shifts so that the crowd looks huge at all times of the day. According to him, the women are incentivised to dedicate their free time to the protests. He also added that the protestors are provided with food, rest and shift-based rotational ‘duty hours’ in a well-organised manner. He claimed that the Shaheen Bagh protest was more of a mode of income for the locals.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that some women from Shaheen Bagh have also come to the Singhu border to show support for the farmers’ protest. Farm union leaders claim some 3 lakh farmers are participating in the protest march.
