The South Asian media fraternity came together to denounce the incident involving Ravi Choudhary, whose iconic image of the ongoing farmers’ protest in India had gone viral.  

 

Choudhary works with the Press Trust of India. He was attacked by several unidentified people in Uttar Pradesh. He had clicked the famous picture of a Sikh farmer about to be hit by a security person during the agitation.  

The Punjab farmers, predominantly from the Sikh community are currently camping in New Delhi, the national capital of India to protest the controversial bills affecting their livelihood brought by the right wing Hindutva nationalist government. The farmers are outraged over the way these bills were pushed through by the ruling party which has a brute majority in the house without any debate.  

The police had recently used excessive force on the agitating farmers sparking angry protests all over the world. Choudhary’s picture was circulated widely on social media. He has alleged that the police refused to act promptly on his complaint.  

On Tuesday, December 8, the members of Punjabi Press Club of British Columbia (PPCBC) resolved to show their solidarity with Choudhary and strongly condemned the attack on him.  

Earlier, the PPCBC also welcomed the Editors Guild of India (EGI) advisory against malicious coverage of the farmers’ agitation by embedded journalists and the right wing media channels owing allegiance to the ruling party.  The EGI had sharply criticised the portrayal of protesting Sikh farmers as separatists and “anti-nationals” by a section of the media. It had urged the press not to delegitimize their protest without any evidence. The PPCBC also appealed to the South Asian media outlets in Canada to act responsibly and not to distort facts while reporting about the farmers’ struggle.