In the wake of the recent farmers’ unrest in Delhi, a post accompanying a video in which a mob is seen vandalising some shops & a temple is being shared with a claim that the video shows farmers attacking a temple. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Viral video shows farmers attacking a Hindu temple during the current farmers’ agitation in Delhi in 2024.
Fact: This video shows a clash between two groups in Patiala, Punjab, in 2022. On 29 April 2022, Shiv Sena supporters staged an anti-Khalistan rally in Patiala, Punjab. This video shows Khalistan supporters clashing with Shiv Sena supporters as the rally reached the Kali Mata temple in Manjeet Nagar, Patiala. Khalistan supporters also attacked the Kali Mata temple during the clash. However, this is not an incident in the context of the ongoing farmers’ protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
A reverse image search of the screenshots of the video revealed that a video containing similar visuals was published by a person named Avadhesh Parikh on his Facebook page on 29 April 2022. He claimed that the video shows Khalistan supporters attacking the Kali Mata temple in Patiala.
Based on this information, we further performed an internet search using appropriate keywords for more information on this incident. This search led us to several media reports (here, here & here) about this incident.
According to these reports, “On 29 April 2022, Shiv Sena supporters held an anti-Khalistan rally in Patiala. When the rally reached Kali Temple in Manjeet Nagar, Patiala, Shiv Sena supporters were attacked with knives and stones by Khalistan supporters.”
Also, on 29 April 2022, ANI posted a video of this incident on their X(Twitter) handle. Comparision of the viral video and the original video reported by the news agencies reveals that both show the same incident. Based on this, it can be confirmed that this viral video shows the scenes of the clash at the Kali Mata temple in Patiala in April 2022 and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi.
To sum up, a video of an attack on a Hindu temple on a different occasion in the past is being shared in connection with the ongoing farmers’ protest.
