Kangana dancing to the tune of external forces, domestic lackeys Adani, Ambani: AIKS

Counterview Desk

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has demanded apology from actor-turned-BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's statement comparing the farmers' agitation in 2020-21 as having been supported by external forces with the recent upheaval in Bangladesh which forced Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.

Asking the Supreme Court to take suo moto cognizance and action "for deliberately creating discord against farmers", AIKS reminded her, "One of the greatest icons of militant anti-imperialism and the freedom struggle, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, was the most popular image of resistance during the Kisan struggle."

Text:

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) strongly condemns the irresponsible and malicious statements made by Kangana Ranaut, BJP MP from Mandi against farmers and the historic farmers’ movement that ferociously fought the corporate takeover of Indian agriculture. In a recent interview with a Hindi daily, the actress turned BJP MP described the farmers’ movement as an anti-national force engaged in destabilising India with the help of “external forces”. She went further and depicted the farmers’ movement as planning a ‘colour revolution’ similar to what happened in Bangladesh.

As a matter of fact, Kangana Ranaut’s despise towards the legendary and patriotic farmers’ movement is well documented. When the farmers were bravely fighting the harsh weather, the Covid pandemic, and the state violence unleashed by the RSS-BJP regime, Ranaut was dancing to the tune set by “external forces”— the hegemonic global finance — and their domestic lackeys like Adani and Ambani.

Her spiteful remarks on the peasantry, especially the denigrating remarks about peasant women exposed the fact that Ranaut will go to any extent to please her “external” and “internal” bosses who want to devour agriculture.

Ranaut, who was the most obnoxious cheerleader of the pro-corporate Farm Laws also made totally false statements trying to connect "rapes and murders" with farmers' movement. It is a plain truth that the Kisan struggle had 736 martyrs and Ranaut's colleagues in the RSS-BJP actually murdered protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.

AIKS reminds Ranaut and her colleagues in the RSS-BJP that the farmers’ movement against the draconian Farm Laws drew its inspiration from the anti-imperialist freedom struggle against the British. One of the greatest icons of militant anti-imperialism and the freedom struggle, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, was the most popular image of resistance during the Kisan struggle.

The reactionary communal forces like the RSS, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League which betrayed the freedom struggle and acted as the stooges of British imperialism do not have any moral authority to question the patriotism of the peasantry and the working people. AIKS reiterates that, if implemented, the Farm Laws would have compromised the sovereignty and the food security of the country.

AIKS demands that Ranaut immediately withdraw her statements and apologise to the farmers for her malicious and provocative remarks.The prime minister Narendra Modi should also apologise to the farmers.The Supreme Court should take suo moto cognizance of Ranaut's statements for deliberately misleading and creating discord against farmers and take strong deterrent action against her.

-- Ashok Dhawale, President; Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary

Comments

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

By Rajiv Shah Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication.

India’s climate tech ecosystem in dire need of both early, growth-stage funding: Report

By Our Representative India’s climate tech ecosystem, which boasts over 800 startups, is in dire need of both early and growth-stage funding to leverage its full potential, according to a report by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (Ventures) and MUFG Bank , Japan. Despite a robust initial funding landscape, with approximately two-thirds of climate tech startups receiving seed capital, growth-stage investments remain critically lacking.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra* The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.”

105,000 sign protest petition, allege Nestlé’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum* 105,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

UNEP report on how climate crisis is impacting displacement, global conflicts, declining health

By Shankar Sharma* A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing," warrants urgent attention from our country’s developmental perspective. The findings, detailed in the report, should be a source of significant concern not only globally but especially for our nation, which has a vast population and limited natural resources.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Militants, with ten times number of arms compared to those in J&K, 'roaming freely' in Manipur

By Sandeep Pandey* The violence which shows no sign of abating in the ongoing Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur is a matter of concern. The alienation of the two communities and hatred generated for each other is unprecedented. The Meiteis cannot leave Manipur by road because the next district North on the way to Kohima in Nagaland is Kangpokpi, a Kuki dominated area where the young Kuki men and women are guarding the district borders and would not let any Meitei pass through the national highway.

Search This Blog