Reporters Without Orders Ep 146: Farmer protests A reportersâ podcast about what made news and what shouldnât have. Newslaundryâs Basant Kumar and Anna Priyadarshini. The conversation hits off with the bizarre news stories, from a fisherman finding the worldâs biggest blob of whale vomit worth 2.4 million pounds to a wife of a dead Patiala man receiving a âsample-collectedâ SMS on her husbandâs phone. The discussion begins with Anna and Ayushâs report on ex-soldiers at the farmer protests denouncing the Naxal jibes at them by Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Last week, the minister had alleged, without evidence, that the ongoing protests against the new farm laws had been infiltrated by âNaxal and Maoist elementsâ. A section of the media too had claimed the protests had been âhijacked by anti-national forcesâ and âforeign powersâ. The most apt response to the allegations was from a 75-year-old former subedar of the Indian army, Joginder Singh, who said âNarendra Modi and Amit Shah were children when we fought wars for this country. So if they call patriots like me Naxali, then why should we even answer them? It is like mocking a priest about his mantra. Or lecturing a farmer about agriculture, as theyâre doing. They should be ashamed of themselves.â