Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait – at the forefront of 2020-21 agitations against the government’s three (now-scrapped) farm laws – has backed Twitter founder Jack Dorsey‘s claims the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party browbeat him and the company into blocking accounts covering the protests and those critical of prime minister Narendra Modi and his administration. “Government of India must have made such attempts… what he said is correct,” Tikait told reporters Tuesday morning.
“We had information that the kind of reach on Facebook and Twitter that was expected on farmers’ protest was not coming. They (the government) used to try to stop it at their level. The head (Dorsey) has clearly said this now… but such companies don’t come under (just) anyone’s pressure…” he said.
Jack Dorsey’s allegations
In an interview with YouTube podcast Breaking Points, Dorsey was asked if and how governments put pressure on Twitter to toe the establishment narrative. Dorsey – who quit as Twitter boss last year after Tesla founder Elon Musk’s sensational takeover – gave India as an example.
“India is one of the countries which had many requests around farmers’ protests… around particular journalists who were critical of the government and it manifested in ways such as ‘we will shut Twitter down in India… we will raid the homes of your employees’, which they did,” Dorsey said.
“And this is India… a democratic country.”
Govt hits back
Junior union Information Technology minister Rajeev Chandrashekar has rubbished Dorsey’s claims and called it an ‘outright lie’. Chandrashekar said Twitter – under Dorsey – had repeatedly violated Indian law between 2020 and 2022 and complied only in June 2022, weeks after Musk became CEO.
He accused Twitter of having a problem accepting the ‘sovereignty of India law’.
The minister maintained there was a lot of ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake’ reporting on Twitter during the farmers’ protest and that the Modi government had been ‘obligated’ to demand such content.
READ | Centre dismisses Dorsey’s claims of Twitter shutdown over farmer protests
“To set the record straight… no one was raided or sent to jail. Focus was only ensuring compliance with Indian laws,” he said this morning.
Opposition reacts
The Congress has red-flagged Dorsey’s ‘sensational’ disclosure and demanded the government answer to the ex-Twitter chief’s allegations. “The real face of the cowardly dictator and oppressive government will be exposed,” party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate tweeted.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also tweeted and accused the BJP of having ‘tried to crush the farmers protest’. “They tried to defame the movement… called farmers terrorists, anti-national… lathi-charged… let (them) die. They tried to silence the opposition in Parliament… tried to arm twist social media platforms to mute voices supporting farmers…”
READ | BJP vs Congress over ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s claims on farmers’ protest
Farmers protest sunflower seeds MSP
The comments come as farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh gather for another round of protests – this time over disparity in payments for sunflower seeds; they say they are forced to sell to private buyers at ₹4,000 per quintal when the Minimum Support Price is ₹6,400 per quintal.
READ | ‘We have two demands…’: Farmers protest over sunflower MSP, block NH44
In visuals circulated online hundreds of farmers streamed onto the national highway near Kurukshetra in Haryana waving flags and holding placards. “We have only two demands – release farmers detained and start purchasing sunflower seeds at MSP. We are ready to hold discussions with the government,” Tikait said Monday, referring to farmers arrested at a protest last week.
What was the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest?
The protests started after the Modi government introduced (the opposition alleged the rules were rushed through without discussion) three farm laws in September 2020. Thousands of farmers from across the country camped in and around Delhi for nearly a year and forced the repeal of the laws.
(With inputs from ANI)
