ABP Ganga says a village near Singhu is hurting from farmer protests. It’s nowhere near Singhu

ABP Ganga published a report on January 31 titled “The Story of Singhu Border: Reality Check of Kisan Andolan Site”. The latter half of the 21-minute report on YouTube focused on problems supposedly faced by the people of Karala village due to the blocked border.

Aastha Kaushik, the reporter, stressed that the protest had caused an “economic crisis” for the villagers.

However, there were glaring factual inaccuracies in the report.

The reporter said the main reason for the highlighted crisis was because “Singhu border acted as a gateway between Delhi and Haryana for this village”. One of the people interviewed even said, “Since the border has been completely blocked, the people who want to go to Delhi from Haryana for work are not being able to do so and the people who want to go to UP or Haryana for work are also all sitting at home.” He added that work in the village had also been affected due to the blockade.

A Google Maps search shows that Singhu does not lie on the way to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh or Delhi from Karala. The village is 24 km southwest of Singhu, and not the “Kisan Andolan Site” or “Farmers Protest Site” as the title of the video proclaims.

The alleged villagers called the farmers “Khalistanis”, accused them of wanting to overthrow the government and insulting the Indian flag, which was never once questioned or clarified by the reporter. One person even said, “Khule roop se sab jaante hai ki wo keval khalistani hai”, which can be roughly translated to, “It is clearly known that the protesters are Khalistanis”. Again, this went unchallenged by the reporter.

In conclusion, Kaushik said, “The people want to say that the protest has been hijacked, not everyone sitting in the protest is a farmer, and people living nearby are facing work-related issues as they are not being able to go to Haryana. The borders should open to relieve them from the economic crisis that they are facing and the protest should also come to a conclusion.”