Farmers set up IT cell to counter fake news

Vishav Bharti & Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Bathinda, Dec 20

Farm unions have set up a dedicated information technology (IT) cell to counter fake news and “negative” propaganda against the farmers’ protest on the social media, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) secretary Shingara Singh Mann said.

Baljit Singh, who heads the IT cell, said they had created accounts under the name of ‘Kisan Ekta Morcha’ on various social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. From having their own IT cell to training leaders to speak English, the unions are trying to counter the “propaganda war” on three agriculture laws.

Kirti Kisan Union vice-president Rajinder Singh delivered his address in English on Sunday. Also, the unions have come out with six posters, explaining in detail how these laws would “finish” the farmers.

“We decided to have our own IT cell to abort repeated attempts to defame us by dubbing us as Maoists or anti-national,” said Rajinder Singh. The Bharti Kisan Union on Saturday posted an online advertisement inviting volunteers for video-editing and content writing. “The response has been overwhelming,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary of the union.

Back from Singhu, Farmer kills self

Bathinda: Gurlabh Singh, a 22-year-old farmer from Dyalpura Mirza village in Bathinda district, whose family was reportedly under debt, consumed poison on his return from the Singhu border. He was taken to a hospital in Bathinda where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’. Gurlabh was a state-level player of tug of war. TNS

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