Who are the ‘locals’ claiming to be opposed to the farmers’ protests at the Singhu border? Are they really locals, or are they outsiders trying to instigate violence?
At least two of the supposed locals seen among the counter-protesters appear to be affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, featuring in protests by the BJP against the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi, and posting photos of themselves with BJP leaders.
The claims that the two men are actually connected with the BJP were first shared on social media, have been checked by fact-checking sites, and can be verified to some extent by accessing the social media profiles of the men in question.
Aman Kumar ‘Dabas’
You can see Aman Kumar in a video posted by Aaj Tak (embedded below) at around the 22:50 mark, holding the national flag in a group of people pressed up against the police. He is wearing a distinctive green, white and blue shirt/sweater.
Kumar can be seen wearing the same shirt/sweater in a photo he posted to his Facebook account (active as of 5:39 pm on Saturday, 29 January) of a protest organised by the BJP against the Arvind-Kejriwal government in Delhi regarding an alleged scam in the Delhi Jal Board.
The photo was posted on 25 January 2021, just four days before he turned up at the Singhu border. More photos can be found on his post here.
The Jal Board protest is not the only indication of Kumar’s connections to the BJP.
He is, in fact, married to Anju Devi, the NDMC councillor for Ward 31 in North Delhi, Pooth Khurd. Kumar is mentioned as her spouse on her myneta profile, and the two can be seen together on a poster featuring BJP leaders posted on Anju’s Facebook profile. (active as of 5:47 pm on Saturday, 29 January).
According to fact-checking website Alt News, Pooth Khurd is at a distance of 15 km from Singhu.
Kumar has also uploaded pictures to his Facebook and Twitter accounts which are stated to have been taken at a meeting of the BJP’s north west district leadership.
Finally, he also posted pictures to his social media profiles showing him meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi BJP leader Manoj Tiwari at a BJP nukkad jansabha back on 27 January 2020.
According to a Times of India report from 22 March 2017, Aman and Anju appear to have switched their allegiance from the AAP to the BJP.
Krishan Dabas
Alt News also tracked another person present at the Singhu border, who had uploaded a News Nation report showing himself present at the scene as a local protesting against the farmers, Krishan Dabas.
Krishan appears to have locked his Facebook profile and deleted the contents from it, so The Quint has been unable to independently verify the posts referred to by Alt News, who have downloaded the posts and taken screenshots of them.
Krishan can be seen along with Aman Kumar in the videos he had uploaded, and can also be seen to be in the same crowd of people in this video by Aaj Tak (at the 1:45 and 0:25 mark respectively):
Krishan’s connection to the BJP can be observed from the fact that he was part of the same protest that Aman Kumar was, against the Kejriwal government on 25 January. While the photo is no longer available on Krishan’s Facebook profile, he can still be seen in one of the photos uploaded by Aman Kumar, to the far right.
Alt News also refers to another screenshotted post of Krishan Dabas with Anju Devi, which appears to show he is also from the Pooth Khurd region.
(With inputs from Alt News.)
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