Were Farmers Standing In Queue For Urea In MP Lathicharged?: FactCheck

Amidst the news of farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan facing a shortage of Urea in several districts, there is a video that is going viral on social media. In the video, a police official is seen standing against a queue trying to control the public with a lathi. The video got a lot of attention and was shared by many on social media.

Many on twitter shared the video with a few comparing the current situation in these states with the situation during demonetisation.

मध्य प्रदेश में खाद की लाइन में लगे किसानों पर पुलिस ने भांजी लाठियां । किसानों का कहना था कि तीन दिन से वह गुना में सड़क पर रात गुजार रहे हैं, इसके बाद भी खाद नहीं मिल रही है। pic.twitter.com/xUGeeibYvy

— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) December 25, 2018

You can access the archived version here.

ये हैं मध्य प्रदेश - खाद के लिए लाइन में लगो और साथ मे पुलिस के डंडे फ्री

नोटबंदी के लिए लगी किसी भी लाइन में ऐसा एक भी नजारा कहीं नहीं था

किसानों के नाम पर वोट लेते ही पहला डंडा किसानों पर pic.twitter.com/mJOEXNOAay

— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 25, 2018

You can access the archived version here.

Kamal Nath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh taking note of the incident, tweeted about it and said that the shortage of urea is being taken care of and a solution will soon be in place. Farmers being lathicharged when they come to collect urea won't be tolerated and the authorities need to change their old mentality.

यह पुरानी सरकार नहीं, जहाँ किसानो के सीने पर गोलियाँ तक दाग़ी गयी।क़ानून व्यवस्था की स्थिति बिगड़ने ना दे लेकिन किसानो का दमन बर्दाश्त नहीं।मेरी सभी ज़िम्मेदारों को खुली चेतावनी।

2/2

— Office Of Kamal Nath (@OfficeOfKNath) December 25, 2018

But were the farmers really lathicharged when they were standing in the line to get urea?

BOOM looked at the video carefully and found that police was only trying to maintain order and not beat up the farmers standing in queue for urea. Moreover, the video shared online was only a part of a longer version where there is an announcement that is being made. In the announcement, the farmers are being informed to maintain order or else action will be taken against them. We also noticed that the crowd was not beaten up but only disciplined so that the order was maintained.

Speaking to BOOM, Nimish Agarwal, Superintendent of Police ,Guna said, "there were two separate lines for men and woman and it was a woman constable who was holding the lathi in her hand and that she was only trying to maintain order as there was chaos." He further said, "the woman constable was counseled."