New Delhi: A video of a man pouring water on foodgrains has gone viral with the claim that farmers from Punjab deliberately rot foodgrains bought at minimum support price (MSP) to sell them to distilleries and breweries.
In the 58-second video, a man can be seen watering several sacks of foodgrains.
The video was shared Sunday by a Twitter user, Jitendra Nagar, who has over 11,000 followers. Nagar’s tweet read, “This is the scene across Punjab, wheat bought at MSP, water is sprinkled on bags to make the grains rot then it is sold to distillery & breweries by the five star farmers who are agitating on the border of Delhi! Big money is involved??”
The video was watched around 50,000 times and liked by more than 4,400 people.
This is the scene across Punjab, wheat bought at MSP, water is sprinkled on bags to make the grains rot then it is sold to distillery & breweries by the five star farmers who are agitating on the border of Delhi!
Big money is involved?? pic.twitter.com/GWGSvWABEY— Dr Jitendra Nagar (@NagarJitendra) January 17, 2021
Sourabh Choudhary, a BJP youth leader, who has a verified account, also retweeted the video and said that this was the “main reason for the protest”.
This is one of the main reason for the protest. @rssurjewala can you please explain it. https://t.co/U94vddXr6r
— Sourabh Choudhary (@MrChoudharyS) January 17, 2021
Another Twitter handle with the username ‘Tattvam Asi’ shared the video, claiming that the produce is sold at distilleries for Rs 4-5/Kg and the taxpayers of India were paying for it. The tweet has been liked by over 500 people.
Yup Govt buys at Rs19.60/Kg + Rs5 as logistics + storage = Rs24.60.
Then sold to distilleries for Rs4-5/Kg. Who pays froths gap, yes Taxpayers of India. https://t.co/gR9W2NhcvM
— Tattvam Asi (तत्त्वम् असि!) (@Brahamvakya) January 17, 2021
The video is also viral on WhatsApp and has been marked as ‘forwarded many times’, with a similar caption.
Fact check
The video, however, is at least two years old and was shared in 2018 as well. The video was posted on Facebook on 30 April 2018.
The Times of India had also shared the video on 18 August 2019. The report claimed that the man was pouring water on the foodgrains to increase their weight and in turn make additional profit.
It is unclear if the video is from Punjab.
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