New Delhi: On 4 February 2021, Swedish climate activist Great Thunberg tweeted a toolkit related to the ongoing farmers’ protest in the outskirts of the National Capital against the three contentious Farm Laws 2020.
Since then, an environmentalist, a lawyer and an engineer– Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk– landed in trouble.
While the environmentalist, Disha Ravi (22) is in police custody, the lawyer Nikita Jacob and engineer Shantanu Muluk have been granted pre-arrest bail by the Bombay high court. Here is all you need to know about the toolkit controversy:
The toolkit is a document key to digital-era protests and is equivalent to pamphlets and fliers that are used by the protestors on the streets.
In simple words, it is a document that educates and amplifies the cause of the protest. It also provides a roadmap on how to take the protest forward, underscoring what needs to be done, when and how.
The Delhi Police have branded the three activists as collaborators in an international conspiracy to denigrate the Republic by resorting to violence and creating mayhem during the tractor rally on January 26. Central to the conspiracy argument is a toolkit, which was allegedly responsible for the call for global action and physical action on Republic Day.
The three activists are arraigned as editors of the toolkit. The cyber unit of the Delhi Police, the lead agency for this probe, also discovered hyperlinks of Khalistan literature in the text of the toolkit.
The toolkit shared by Thunberg advised people on how to show support for the farmers protesting against the three contentious farm laws in India.
The original toolkit called for a digital strike, a Twitter storm on or before 26 January and listed ‘carrying out protests outside Indian embassies’ as one of the actions people can take to support farm protests.
Western nations which speak up against human rights violations are the same countries which support the laws to free agriculture from middlemen and bringing in competition.