2019 video from ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 23, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming that a rap song in support of the farmers’ protests was played after the Miss India contest broadcast on MTV show. The winners of the Femina Miss India 2020 Contest were announced on 10 February 2021. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: A rap song in support of the farmers’ protest was played recently on MTV channel.
Fact: This video shows Kolkata-based rap singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, singing a rap song about the plight of Indian farmers, during the MTV Hustle reality show in October 2019. The video is an old one and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, a video with similar visuals is found on a YouTube channel. This video was uploaded on 08 November 2019, with the title ‘EPR Tobe Ekla Cholo Re Rap’. In the description of the video, it is mentioned as the performance in MTV Hustle reality show.
When we searched for other sources using the keywords, we found the same video published on ‘MTV Hustle’ Facebook page on 15 October 2019. ‘MTV Hustle’ mentioned it as the rap song by EPR about the plight of Indian farmers. ‘The Times of India’ published an article on this performance at MTV Hustle reality show. Kolkata-based rap singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, who is famously called EPR, reportedly performed a rap song about the plight of Indian farmers at the ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show finals in 2019. Srinivasan Iyer shared the videos of him singing the same rap song on his social media handles. They can be seen here and here.
On 14 September 2020, the Government of India introduced the new farm bills in Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha passed these amendments on 17 September 2020. On 20 September 2020, the new agriculture reform bills got passed in the Indian Parliament. Following this, Political parties and farm organisations like Bharatiya Kisa Union (BKU) started protesting against these new farm laws. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is an old one and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests.
To sum it up, a 2019 video from ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests.