On social media, counter-narrative builds against AAP govt's land pooling policy in Punjab

Time of India

a day ago

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Jalandhar: At a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govt is at pains to push its land pooling policy, especially among farmers, activists and Punjabi netizens, not necessarily aligned to any political party, are playing a crucial role in bringing a counter-narrative, with the battle on the Punjabi social media space increasingly becoming aggressive.
What can be an even bigger headache for the ruling party is that opponents of the policy have started invoking the terminology, expressions, and analogies of the three farm laws brought by the BJP govt, which led to the historical farm movement, and ultimately forced the Narendra Modi govt to withdraw them.
While the opposition political parties and farm groups have staged protests, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has been taking jibes at the opposition parties and farm leaders to discredit them.
However, the battle on social media is being driven more by the activists and netizens.
The influential pro-farm social media account, 'Tractor 2 Twitter', which played a pivotal role on social media during the farm protest against the three farm laws, shared a poster on Thursday using the analogy: 'BJP's three black farm laws – (were) a conspiracy to snatch govt mandis'; 'AAP's black land pooling policy – a conspiracy to snatch fertile fields'.
The activists and netizens are not confining themselves to rhetoric on the issue, but a few are digging deep to build their arguments.
During the farm protest of 2020, activists of different ideological hues, including Sikh and Left-leaning groups despite strong differences among themselves, powered the narrative against the three farm bills on social media. The same scene appears to be evolving now.
Conversely, not many AAP workers and supporters are coming forward to defend the policy online.
They seem outnumbered and outmaneuvered, especially on Facebook, the preferred platform among Punjabi netizens.
At least two individuals, who featured in AAP's pro-policy publicity campaign on social media, ended up giving clarifications, and both later said that farmers in their respective areas did not want land pooling. Their clarifications were widely shared by the anti-land-pooling-policy activists and netizens.
Some of the former AAP workers and supporters are now also adding to the headache for the ruling party on this issue.
In fact, it is not for the first instance of the AAP govt facing more opposition from non-aligned Punjabi activists and netizens. Most of them opposed the old parties like Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, and BJP. Within three months of the formation of the Bhagwant Mann govt, a movement started by some environmental activists to oppose an industrial project at Mattewara forest land was given impetus by the pro-farm and Sikh activists, leading to the first mobilisation of people on the ground.
A few opposition leaders also supported the movement. The Punjab govt then announced the withdrawal of the project. A similar dynamic was observed during the protests against the Zira distillery.