Fact Check: Old Images Viral As Farmers Vandalising Hindi Signboards During Ongoing Protest In Delhi
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Multiple posts showing Sikhs censoring Hindi from signboards have gone viral on social media. These posts have gone viral with the claim that farmers protesting in Delhi are vandalising the Hindi signboards.
Social media users are sharing a video where a Sikh man can be seen censoring Hindi from the signboard. The video has gone viral with the caption, “टॉवर तोड़ने के बाद अगला काम हिंदी नही चलेगा ये किसान है? टावर तोड़ दिये, अब हिंदी नहीं पढेंगे, ये किसान हैं? (Which translates in English as, “After vandalising (jio) towers their next work is to say, " Hindi will no longer be used,” Are they real farmers? They broke towers now they are against reading Hindi, are they farmers?)”.
This post is viral on Facebook.
Another post with the same caption as above has gone viral on social media. This post is a collage of photos showing some people vandalising a signboard on National Highway. The people are censoring Hindi texts on the signboard that also has Punjabi and English written on it.
BJP member Jawahar Yadav posted the images on Twitter which was later deleted.
The post is viral on Facebook and Twitter.
Claim:
Farmers are vandalising the signboards and censoring the Hindi texts on them.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian investigated and found the images are old and being shared with false context.
Video verification:
We did a reverse image search of the video and found that the same video was published by a Tamil media organisation Sathiyam News on September 14, 2020. The video shows a man protesting against the imposition of Hindi. The anchor in the video can be heard saying, “After Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Protest against Hindi imposition started in Punjab.”
We also found that the video was posted on YouTube channel on February 22, 2019, long before the protests on farm bills started.
Hence, the video shows a Sikh man protesting against Hindi imposition in Punjab and is unrelated to ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi.
Verification of Viral Images:
The Logical Indian did a reverse image search with the image below:
On reverse image search, we found that the many images from the viral collage was present on a blog laaltopee. These images were published on the website on October 24, 2017, along with the title, “Under Congress rule, Hindi text getting wiped out from signboards in Punjab.” Some of these images were also published by The Times Of India and The Tribune.
The image on the top right of the collage was published by Hindustan Times on October 26, 2017. The image was captioned, “The recent protests by some organisations over relegating Punjabi to number three on signboards, behind Hindi and English, have made the state government act promptly.”
Another image of a distorted signboard was published by Sikh Siyasat on October 21, 2017.
None of the images or video is from ongoing farmers’ protest. All these images are old and are of the time when Punjabi activists were protesting against the imposition of Hindi in Punjab. Thus the images and videos are being shared with false context.
The claim was earlier fact-checked by Altnews.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Fact Check: Indian Media Falsely Reports “Ex-Pak Diplomat Admits 300 Killed In Balakot Strike”
Fact Check: Video of water tanker hitting women en route farmers’ protest has no political connection
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A viral video on social media shows some women, who were on their way to take part in the farmers’ protest, being hit by a tanker.
Amid the violent clashes that took place between the agitating farmers and Delhi police, a viral video on social media shows some women, who were on their way to take part in the farmers’ protest, being hit by a tanker.
If a post on a Twitter video is to be believed, in a moment of rage a BJP official hit some women when they were on their way to participate in the farmers’ protest march in Delhi.
The Hindi caption to the video translates to, “Some women who were on way to take part in the farmers’ protest were hit and run over by an angry BJP worker with a water tanker. However, no media organisation showed these visuals and questioned the BJP leaders. Shameful.”
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
The primary member of the Congress, Alka Lamba also posted the video on her Twitter handle with the same claim stating that the incident is “shameful” and “gruesome”.
The archived version of her tweet can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claims made with this video are mostly false. The incident took place on January 26, 2021, in Amritsar. It was a local accident and had no political connection.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE VIRAL CLAIM
While investigating the video, AFWA found that the incident took place in Amritsar where the water tanker hit five women, two of whom died, and three others were severely injured.
The women were heading towards the Vallah Chowk to take part in an agitation supporting the farmers’ protest. Several media channels had reported the incident.
For further clarifications about the accident, AFWA contacted Sanjeev Kumar, SHO of Vallah Police station, and Jagmohan Singh, DCP Law and Order Amritsar City Police. Both confirmed to AFWA that the incident was a local accident and no political connection. They also said the accident took place as the driver had lost control over his tanker.
“The incident has no political connection. We have arrested the errant driver. A case had also been registered with the Vallah police station,” said Singh.
Hence, it is clear that the claims made with this video on social media are mostly false.
INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK
Claim In a moment of rage, a BJP official hit some women with a water tanker and ran over them, when they were on their way to participate in the farmers’ protest march in Delhi. Conclusion The incident took place in Amritsar on January 26, 2021. A senior Amritsar City Police official confirmed that it was a local accident and had no political connection. The accident took place when the driver lost control of the tanker. JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie. 1 Crow: Half True
2 Crows: Mostly lies
3 Crows: Absolutely false
Fact Check: Seven-year-old image from UP wrongly linked to farmers’ agitation
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Amid the ongoing battle between farmers agitating against the three farm laws and police in Delhi, an image of a man wearing a Modi t-shirt attacking police personnel has gone viral. The image has been linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest.
Multiple Twitter and Facebook users have posted this image with Bangla, Hindi, and English captions.
According to some of the posts with a Bangla caption, the person in the image disguised himself as a farmer and attacked the police to defame the protest against the farm laws. The caption also stated that his identity lies in the Modi t-shirt he’s wearing.
India Today Anti-Fake News War room (AFWA) found that the viral image is seven-year-old and is from Uttar Pradesh. It has no connection with the ongoing farmers’ protest. On June 30, 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers clashed with police in UP during protests against the Akhilesh Yadav government over rising crime rates in the state.
The archived versions of the posts are saved here, here, and here.
Truth behind the viral image
With the help of reverse image search, we found the image in question was published as part of multiple media reports in 2014. The Telegraph has given the photo courtesy to Press Trust of India (PTI).
The caption for the photo reads, “A BJP activist fights with a policeman during the protest outside the Assembly in Lucknow on Monday (PTI).”
According to these news reports, on June 30, 2014, BJP as an opposition party protested against the ruling Samajwadi Party government against the spiralling cases of crime in Uttar Pradesh. During this protest, BJP workers fought police batons and water cannons outside the state Assembly in Lucknow.
The same photo also went viral last year with the claim that this was a BJP worker fighting against the West Bengal police, which was debunked by the fact-checkers.
Here again the image went viral with a misleading claim that it is linked to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.
INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK
Claim The person in the photo disguised himself as a farmer and attacked police to defame the protest against farm laws. His identity lies in the Modi t-shirt he’s wearing. Conclusion This is a seven-year-old photo from Uttar Pradesh. On June 30, 2014, BJP workers clashed with the police during protests against the Akhilesh Yadav government over rising crime rates in the state. JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie. 1 Crow: Half True
2 Crows: Mostly lies
3 Crows: Absolutely false