Fake News Of Rahul Bajaj Owing Rs 10,000 Crore To UP Farmers Being Spread After He Questioned Govt

On 30 November, Mr Rahul Bajaj, the Chairperson of Bajaj Group said that during the regime of the UPA government, the people of India had the right to criticize the government, but this current government has created an atmosphere of “fear and uncertainty.”

At the Economic Times Awards Function in Mumbai, he asked the distinguished panel consisting of Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on why citizens are not encouraged to question the government.

Shortly after that Mr. Bajaj was highly criticized by many BJP leaders and a smear campaign started on social media. On December 2, BJP MP Ajay (Teni) Mishra of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh said in the Parliament, “Rahul Bajaj owns three mills in Lakhimpur district in which he owes an amount of over Rs. 10000 crores to the farmers for two years. The UP chief minister has initiated investigation against owners of such sugar mills, so it is obvious that they are afraid. Rahul Bajaj’s son is the owner of the sugar mill. He goes there once in every three months.”

#BajajParBawaal in the parliament after Rahul Bajaj’s ‘Modi is feared’ jibe. BJP MP Ajay Mishra links the Bajaj family to scam.

Listen in. pic.twitter.com/I2QW4csvoZ

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 2, 2019

This news went viral on various social media platforms with people insinuating that the reason he is afraid because he owes Rs 10,000 crores to the govt.

#RahulBahaj Bajaj sugar mills owe crores of rupees to sugarcane farmers. Lakhimpur Kheri UP has 10 sugar mills . Of these, 3 mills belong to the Bajaj family. Bajaj family owe as much as Rs 10,000 crore to the sugarcane farmers since last two yearshttps://t.co/1ZduckPPJ3

— Chayan Chatterjee (@Satyanewshi) December 3, 2019

https://twitter.com/aregeepee/status/1202137864256909312

OpIndia, a right-wing content website, also carried out an article on the same news with the headline, “Bajaj sugar mills owe crores of rupees to sugarcane farmers. Is this why Rahul Bajaj ‘afraid’?”. Later they updated the original article adding the crucial information that was missing: “While Rahul and Shishir Bajaj are brothers, the businesses are separate. Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd is managed by Shishir’s son, Kushagra, as mentioned above.”

It was published on their Hindi website too

Claim

Rahul Bajaj owes around Rs 10,000 crore to the Uttar Pradesh farmers of Lakhimpur.

Fact Check

It is true that Bajaj Group owns three sugar mills in Lakhimpur Kheri under the name of Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd (BHSL). However, according to the company’s official website, there is no mention of Rahul Bajaj in their published list of board of directors.

Kushagra Bajaj is named as the Chairman and Non-Executive Director of BHSL. Kushagra Bajaj is Shishir Bajaj’s son who happens to be the younger brother of Rahul Bajaj. In 2008, the two brothers separated and entire control of the sugar and consumer products came under Kushagra Bajaj.

Conclusion

The information being spread is misleading and Rahul Bajaj doesn’t have anything to do with BHSL. Therefore, he cannot be held accountable for anything related to the sugar mills of Lakhimpur.

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