A post with a video of protesters raising pro-Khalistan slogans is being widely shared across all social media platforms linking it to the ongoing farmers’ protests. Another post (archived) carrying an image of protesters holding placards demanding separate Khalistan is also being shared linking it to farmers protest. Through this article let’s fact-check the claims made in these posts.
Claim: Pro-Khalistan protesters holding placards demanding separate Khalistan in the ongoing farmers protest over farm bills.
Fact: While the video is doing rounds on the internet at least since 2018 and actually shows demonstrators raising pro-Khalistan slogan in a protest in San Francisco, the image shows a demonstrator displaying a placard demanding separate Khalistan back in 2013 at Golden Temple on the 29th anniversary of ‘Operation Blue Star’. These videos and images have nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Facebook search with keywords “गली गली में शोर है भारत माता चोर है” led us to few 2018 posts which shared the same video. These posts can be seen here and here.
Further search led us to a Facebook post which shared the same video but of high resolution. In this video, we can spot ‘San Francisco’ written on the back of the t-shirts of the protesters. Taking a cue from this, a search on Google Maps with the keyword ‘Proper Hotel San Francisco’ led us to the exact location in San Francisco as seen in the video. All these establish that the video is at least two years old and is of pro-Khalistan protest march held in San Francisco. It is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest.
Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to a news article which carried the same image. The image published in the article is credited to AFP.
Taking a cue from the image credit in the news article, a search for AFP contributed images on stock photography website led us to the same image on Getty Images. According to the description associated with this image on the website, the image was clicked back in 2013 on the 29th anniversary of ‘Operation Blue star’ at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This establishes that the image is an old one and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest.
In the wake of the ongoing protests by farmers over the farm bills, posts like these are being widely shared on social media platforms with misleading claims.
In a nutshell, old and unrelated videos and images are being shared linking them to ongoing farmers’ protest.
