CLIPPED VIDEO- 2014 video shared as Arvind Kejriwal supporting the Farm Bill 2020

Farmers from all over India majorly from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the newly implemented farm bills in 2020 since November. Amidst this, BJP Delhi leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga shared a 49-second clip of Arvind Kejriwal on 20 March 2021, where the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can be heard saying,

“Agriculture is a very important issue, I completely concede. And there are many dimensions to it, sir. The biggest dimension is agriculture pricing, the kind of prices we are giving. All the controls that we have placed on the farmers will also have to be removed. A farmer can sell only in the mandi, why can’t he sell outside of it? Why can’t he sell in other states, why only in his own state? All these controls that we have put on the small farmer. They are opposing the same controls that you are unhappy with. I think these need to be removed, there needs to be deregulation. The government needs to step off and reconsider the prices that we are offering, I’m just giving a small example…”

The caption of the post mentions, “After reading the bill brought by Modi ji Arvind Kejriwal ji decides to support the bill. We heartily thank Kejriwal ji.” The video is also being widely shared on Facebook.

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by carefully observing the video and found that the initials “CII” can be seen behind Arvind Kejriwal. Next, we ran a keyword search with the same on YouTube and found the original version of the viral video uploaded by Confederation of Indian Industrialist on 17 February 2014. The title of the video mentions “Interaction with Mr Arvind Kejriwal, National Executive Member, Aam Aadmi Party”

The description of the video said, “Interaction with Mr Arvind Kejriwal, National Executive Member, Aam Aadmi Party at the 6th CII National Council Meeting 2013 – 2014 on 17th February, 2014 at New Delhi.”

In the original video one of the members of the conference questioned Arvind Kejriwal, “As a nation, we need another green, yellow and white revolution. It is difficult to improve food prices unless we increase productivity on a large scale. And not just economic growth, but also law and order. Your point on corruption is correct, but we have to move beyond that in agriculture. What do you think about this?”

We can hear Arvind Kejriwal’s answer in the viral clip from 7 minutes 22 seconds. He says, “Agriculture is an important issue, I accept that. I would like to give a small example…I don’t remember exactly whether it was wheat or rice. According to the Haryana government records, the cost of production of that particular product is Rs 1,580 per quintal. And the minimum support price is Rs 1,250. You are not even giving the farmer a cost at the minimum support price, so how will he live? There will obviously be a problem. The Swaminathan report says that we should give them cost plus 50% of the profits. If you start giving the farmer an honest profit–but there are many other complicated things. I think we need to do many more things in agriculture… ”

Below you can see the comparison video between the viral clipped video which is being shared out of context and the original video.

Conclusion– Fact Crescendo found the above-mentioned post to be False. The viral video clip shared by Tajinder Bagga claiming that Arvind Kejriwal has started supporting the Farm Bills passed in 2020 is false. The video is 7 years old and has no relation with the ongoing Farm Bills and the farmer’s protest. Also, the video has been clipped and shared out of context, later in the video we can also see Arvind Kejriwal speak about increasing the minimum support price (MSP).