2016 video reshared and falsely linked to farmers tractor parade - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 28, 2021
A post accompanying a video of a large group of Sikh protesters brandishing swords and chanting pro-Khalistan slogans is being widely circulated on social media platforms with a claim that the visuals are from the recent tractor parade organized by protesting farmers. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Sikh protesters brandished swords and raised pro-Khalistan slogans during the tractor parade.
Fact: The video actually shows the Anakh rally organized by Sikh hardliners back in 2016 in response to Shiv Sena’s announcement to hold a pro-Hindu rally called the ‘Lalkar rally’. Multiple news agencies have reported the rally. The video has nothing to do with the protesting farmers’ tractor parade. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a YouTube video that carried visuals similar to the video in the post. The video is uploaded on YouTube on 25 May 2016 and the title of the video reads “Live From Beas (Shiv Sena not Come to Amritsar)”.
Taking a cue from the YouTube video, Google search with relevant keywords led us to an article published on a website named Khalsa Force. As per the article, thousands of Sikhs attended the ‘Anakh rally’ at the Beas river bridge on 25 May 2016 to challenge the Shiv Sena who announced to take out a ‘Lalkar Rally’ at Amritsar.
Further search led us to news articles published by ‘Hindustan Times’ & ‘The Indian Express’ according to which even as Shiv Sena had called off its Lalkar Rally, Sikh hardliners continued with ‘Anakh rally’. A Punjabi regional news video reporting this rally can be seen here. With all these, we can establish that the video in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent tractor parade by protesting farmers.
In the light of the recent tractor parade on Republic Day by protesting farmers which led to series of unfortunate violent incidents like clashes between police and farmers, posts like these are being circulated on social media with misleading claims.
To sum it up, 2016 video raked up and falsely linked to farmers tractor parade.