A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker admitted to distributing pamphlets against the farmers’ struggle at the Singhu border on December 20, 2020 while talking to a reporter from On Air news website.
A short video clip of the half an hour interview was widely circulated on social media with the claim that an “RSS guy [was] caught distributing Khalistani pamphlets, stickers to defame Kisan andolan.” However, the India Today Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) later confirmed that the pamphlets, rather placards, did not talk about Khalistan but discouraged people from supporting the peasant movement.
Further, both the short video and the full interview show that RSS worker Vikas Prasad Mandal praised protesting farmers for their benevolent behaviour. He said, “I would have died for this behaviour anywhere else but here, farmers went so far as to offer food to me and other RSS workers.” His comment proves that farmers have remained true to their promise of peaceful protests.
According to Mandal, RSS leader Rupendra Rana in his area in Ranchi instructed Mandal and others to distribute leaflets at the farmers protest site. For the last one year, the organisation trained Mandal to promote the RSS, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) Hindu God Ram and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was also trained to motivate people to join the RSS and blindly put their faith in Modi. For all this, Rana promised payment and future jobs to workers like Mandal. Members only required to write down the slogans sent by Rana on leaflets and distribute it at protest points.
Despite the misinformation, the original video also shows that the right-wing party RSS is opposed to the farmers’ dissent against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. Mandal was reportedly handed over to the police after he admitted to sharing the leaflets. However, he said other trainees like him may also have been sent to protest areas.
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