New Delhi: Prime time news Tuesday night was all about the ongoing farmers’ protests and their deadlock with the central government.
‘#EndTheDeadlock’, read the ticker on Republic TV and anchor Arnab Goswami reiterated claims that there was a “big conspiracy behind the agitation”.
Prafulla Ketkar, editor of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, concurred. “Don’t allow these grammarians of anarchy to play their game. Let us not allow the tukde-tukde gang to represent our farmers,” he said.
BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi said: “There are certain farmers’ unions who have openly said that they have now understood the farm bills, some have said they are withdrawing the protest in the national interest.”
On India Today, anchor Rahul Kanwal asked leading agricultural economist Ashok Gulati what he thought about the controversy surrounding farmers.
“What is happening on the streets and roads, it is unfortunate. These are our own people, the government has to take a step forward. Whatever misinformation or trust deficit is there, it is the duty of the government of the day to come closer to remove all the doubts para by para,” he said.
On the concerns about private players entering the mandi, Sanjiv Puri, chief managing director of Indian multinational conglomerate ITC, said mandis or other alternate buying points will be available as choices to farmers and they can choose not to sell their produce to them.
On NDTV India, anchor Nidhi Kulpati also discussed how the farmers were not ready to back down even after 20 days of protests.
BJP Kisan Morcha’s Prakash Chand Sharma targeted the opposition and asked why they were always opposing the government’s schemes.
“Our aim is to take the benefits till the last person of this country. Those who are at the Tikri border are not the only farmers. Bihar’s farmer is a farmer too, who finishes his own agricultural process and reaches Punjab to help the farmers of the state,” he said.
In her counter argument, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the protesting farmers were not children but were fighting for their rights and should be respected.
Instead, she noted, “the government has termed them Khalistani, China’s agent and what not”.
On Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Gujarat Wednesday where he spoke on the farmers’ protest for the first time.
“All the farmers should clearly listen to PM Modi’s message. It has also been made clear that the government is in no mood to take the farm laws back,” he said.
“We have been saying this for many days that farmers are being misled, but today PM Modi has tried to clarify the doubts of the farmers”, Chaudhary added.
ABP News’ Rubika Liyaquat claimed how the ongoing protests are affecting the nation’s economy, leading to losses to the tune of around Rs 70,000 crore. Her source for this figure was unclear.
“When will this issue be resolved and is the nation ready for more financial loss due to these protests?” Rubika asked.