BENGALURU/HUBBALLI : IT-BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Priyank Kharge and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member Tejasvi Surya indulged in a slugfest over the death of a farmer from Haveri. While Surya had stated on X that the farmer died by suicide after the Waqf Board sent him a notice, Kharge termed it false news. The police have registered a case against Surya for spreading misinformation.
Taking to X, Kharge stated that state BJP leaders are spreading misinformation and fuelling communal tension for electoral gains. “This isn’t the first instance of Tejasvi Surya acting irresponsibly. In his eagerness to please his political masters, he seems willing to damage Karnataka’s reputation.
The BJP has become an anti-state unit, ready to defame its own state to advance individual careers. This pattern of misinformation has even made its way into the BJP’s “WhatsApp university” syllabus now,” he posted.
He later told reporters that the Supreme Court too has raised concerns over spreading fake news. BJP has made this fake news an industry and speakers like Surya and Shobha Karandlaje are spreading it.
“Surya had tweeted false news about farmers suicide and later he deleted. This might have resulted in clashes and an FIR has been filed against him. Should we felicitate people who spread fake news,” he asked. Deaths of people for other reasons have been used for political gains by BJP, he alleged.
Hitting back, Surya charged that Kharge “is a typical incompetent Congress dynast who thinks he can do whatever he wishes with the State machinery. But every time, his incompetence puts him back in his place.
When I tweeted about Farmer’s suicide in Haveri due to Waqf land grab, he got the Haveri Police to register a false case, accusing me of spreading misinformation. He got the Police to not only lie, but he even intimidated media to hide the reality. On Friday, father of the deceased farmer himself has exposed how changes in Pahani by Waqf Board pushed his son to suicide”.
He accused the state government of exploiting farmers’ land to mobilise Muslim votes ahead of the by-elections.
Campaigning for Shiggaon BJP candidate Bharat Bommai on Friday, Surya claimed that the state government is trying to gain Muslim votes by using Waqf laws to seize agricultural land. He said land in multiple taluks is being claimed as Waqf property. This is being used to damage farmers and deprive them of their agricultural subsidies and loans as land once classified as Waqf, farmers cannot get agricultural loans or sell it, he pointed out.
He alleged that the government is silencing the media to hide truth.