On March 21, Anil Ghanwat, one of the panellists on the Supreme Court-appointed committee on now-repealed farm laws, made the findings of the committee public. He had said in a statement that he had written to the Supreme Court to release the report on three occasions, but he could not get any response. In the report, it was mentioned 87% of the farmer unions were in favour of the three farm laws.
After the report was released, a clip of ‘andolanjivi’ Yogendra Yadav was shared by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and national spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind. In the video, Yogendra explained how farmer protests aimed at removing BJP from power. Shehzad said, “Yogendra Yadav explaining role played by him & Rakesh Tikait. “We were preparing pitch for Opposition to take wicket (of Yogi Ji) – we made the pitch, we used heavy roller also on the pitch, but bowling was to be done by Akhilesh Yadav.” He said it is called ‘match fixing’.
Yogendra Yadav explaining role played by him & Rakesh Tikait
— Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) March 21, 2022
“We were preparing pitch for Opposition to take wicket (of Yogi ji) – we made the pitch, we used heavy roller also on the pitch but bowling was to be done by Akhilesh Yadav”
Vaise Match Fixing isko hi bolte hai ! pic.twitter.com/8JUQXGeyOI
The video was from a discussion that Yadav held with Dr Mukesh Kumar on YouTube news channel Satya Hindi owned by former Aam Aadmi Party member and journalist Ashutosh.
During the discussion, when Kumar asked Yadav to explain why there was no visible effect of farmer protests on the UP assembly election results, he said, “It would be too early to say there was no effect. It is true that BJP is winning despite the fact we urged people to punish the party. I think we should see the impact at a microscopic level. We should check where vote share for BJP is reduced. How many seats did the BJP lose in every region? See, farmer protest was not a player in this game. The role of farmer protest was to create a pitch in the elections.”
He further added, “We created the pitch. We ran a heavy roller on it so that ‘seamer’ and ‘fast bowler’ could get the benefit. But we were not supposed to ball in the game. Balling had to be done by Akhilesh. And if he failed to defeat Yogi Ji, do not blame the pitch creator. It is the case of balling and batting. In the end, it was their game. Yes, there must be some lack in the efforts made by farmer protests. In PM’s words, there must be some lack of efforts in our penances.”
“We have to see where we lacked. But we should not think there was no effect of farmer protests. You tell me. Before farmer protests reached their peak, was there any opposition in Uttar Pradesh? They did not even dare to stand. It was farmer protests that gave them a platform to stand. We gave them a platform to stand, but it was not our duty to assure victory for them. We were not the main players in the game,” he said.
Netizens called out andolanjivis for ruining farmers’ future
As soon as the clip went viral, several netizens called out professional protesters like Yogendra Yadav and Rakesh Tikait and blamed them for ruining the future of the farmers for their political gains.
Twitter user Shivkumar questioned Supreme Court and asked if they would consider the video clip as evidence that people like Yadav and Tikait misled the nation.
Will Superme Court consider this video as evidence that people like @_YogendraYadav and @RakeshTikaitBKU misleaded the nation in the name farmers protest for plotical benefit and wasting people’s money. https://t.co/4DgCnqiwCZ
— shivakumar (@shivakumartm) March 22, 2022
Another Twitter user Dev Gaur said there was nothing wrong with the laws. The aim was to create a negative atmosphere against BJP so that Akhilesh could take benefit from the situation. “This was the level to which people like Yogendra Yadav stooped to. Crores of farmers will face loss because these people misled them for their own benefit.”
#किसान_बिल में कोई खराबी नहीं थी, सिर्फ @BJP4India के ख़िलाफ़ माहोल तैयार करना था ताकी अखिलेश को फ़ायदा मिल सके. ..
— Dev Gaur (@devkrgaur) March 22, 2022
इस हद तक गिर गए हे ये @_YogendraYadav लोग,
सिर्फ़ अपना मतलब सिंध करने के लिए के करोड़ों किसानो का नुक़सान. ..
ये सब भाईचारे के लिए फ़्री मे तो किया नहीं होगा. . pic.twitter.com/7zEg8WK8J8
Kaushik, a Twitter user, blamed Yadav for the death of farmers who died during protests. “Thank god that covid did not take a front seat role, else it would have been a catastrophe,” he said.
@_YogendraYadav thuu..
— Kaushik (@TheKaushikReddy) March 22, 2022
All the farmers who died protesting is on you!
You played a political game with lives, economy & development.
Thank god that covid did not take a front seat role, else it would have been a catastrophe.
Yadav had given the same statement in a debate on NDTV on March 10 while discussing the UP Assembly Election results. He said the farmer’s movement played a vital role in building the foundation for the opposition parties to defeat BJP in UP, but the opposition parties did not play well.
He said that the entire Samyukt Kisan Morch (SKM) made a strategy prior to the Uttar Pradesh elections, and it was decided unanimously that they would ‘punish’ the BJP in the state of Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming elections. “Rakesh Tikait and I toured the entire UP. But remember, we are not the players. Talking about cricket, our work was like that of the ‘pitch roller’, we laid a conducive pitch for the fast bowlers and seamers, but bowling is not our job,” Yadav added.
