Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was circulating a doctored version of an interview of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that were purportedly in support of the new farm bills.

At a media briefing, Sisodia played the two versions, including the purported full video of the chief minister’s interview. In a clipped version of the video, shared by the BJP’s Delhi unit, Kejriwal can be heard highlighting the advantages of the three farm laws. However, in the version shared by Sisodia, Kejriwal said that the reforms were not new and called for their repeal.

“It’s unfortunate that the BJP has to doctor a video to get public support for their farm laws,” Sisodia said during the press conference on Sunday. “They are using Kejriwal’s name so that his voice may lend some credibility to the laws.”

Sisodia claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were unable to convince the country of the benefits of the farm laws, and therefore resorted to defaming them. “The people of the country have realised that the people behind the violence at Red Fort were from the BJP and not farmers. They have lost all credibility,” he added.

The Aam Aadmi Party politician said the BJP had attempted to “discredit the farmers”. “The BJP insulted the tricolor at the Red Fort to discredit farmers. But the public did not listen to them,” he said. “The public has exposed that the person who insulted the tricolor has a photo with the Prime Minister, this is a BJP worker.”

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had also tweeted the edited video on Saturday, with the caption: “Mentioning all the benefits of the three farm laws”. Twitter has flagged the video with the tag “manipulated media”.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday criticised the new farm laws that have triggered protests at the borders of Delhi. In a series of tweets, the former Union minister said that reform was a “continuous process”.

“...and no one would argue against the reforms in the APMCs [Agricultural Produce Market Committees] or Mandi System, a positive argument on the same does not mean that it is done to weaken or demolish the system,” he tweeted. “During my tenure [as Union agriculture minister], the draft APMC Rules-2007 were framed for the setting up of special markets thereby providing alternate platforms for farmers to market their commodities and utmost care was also taken to strengthen the existing Mandi system.”

Pawar claimed that the new farm laws restricted the mandi system’s powers with regard to collection of “levy and fees from private markets, dispute resolution, agri-trade licencing and regulations of e-trading”. He added that the new laws will adversely affect the minimum support price procurement infrastructure “thereby weakening the mandi system”.

“I am also concerned about the amended Essential Commodities Act,” Pawar tweeted. “According to the act, the government will intervene for price control only if rates of horticultural produce are increased by 100% and that of non perishable items increase by 50%.”

Pawar pointed out that stockpiling limits were removed on food grain, pulses, onion, potato, and oilseeds, among other commodities, which may lead to “apprehensions that corporates may purchase commodities at lower rates and stock pile and sell at higher prices to consumers”.

Farm law protests

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the edge of New Delhi for over two months, seeking the repeal of agricultural laws passed in September. The protests had largely been peaceful but violence erupted on January 26, when a tractor rally planned to coincide with Republic Day celebrations turned chaotic.

Some protestors broke through barricades and poured into the city, clashing with the police that tried to push them back with tear gas and a baton charge. Besides the death of one protestor, several others, including 300 Delhi Police personnel were also wounded.

The Delhi Police said on Saturday that 84 people have been arrested and 38 first information reports have been filed so far in connection with the violence.