Old photo of MS Dhoni standing on his new tractor falsely linked to the farmers' tractor parade held in Delhi - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 29, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that the former Indian Cricket team Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expressed his support for the Kisan Tractor Parade held in New Delhi. This photo shows Mahendra Singh Dhoni standing on a tractor. Following the violent clashes between the protesting farmers and the Police during the Kisan tractor rally in Delhi, this post got shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: MS Dhoni expressed his support for the Kisan tractor parade by standing on a tractor.
Fact:  Former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni purchased the new Mahindra Swaraj 963 FE model tractor for organic farming at his farmhouse during June 2020. This photo in the post was captured while MS Dhoni was inspecting the new tractor delivered to him. MS Dhoni has not made any statement about the Kisan tractor rally held in New Delhi. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by ‘The Indian Express’ news website on 03 June 2020. In the article, it is mentioned that the former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni purchased a new Mahindra Swaraj 963 FE model tractor for his pursuit of organic farming at his farmhouse in Ranchi. MS Dhoni reportedly has been pursuing organic farming during the 3 months lockdown period in the country. Reporting the same, the ‘Deccan Chronicle’ published an article about Dhoni purchasing a new tractor for organic farming.
Responding to the ‘Carandbike’ website tweet about MS Dhoni purchasing the new Mahendra Swaraj 963 FE model tractor, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra posted a tweet appreciating MS Dhoni. News articles published on Anand Mahindra’s tweet about MS Dhoni purchasing the new Mahindra Swaraj 963 FE model tractor can be seen here and here.
MS Dhoni has not made any statement about the Kisan tractor rally held in Delhi. From all these pieces of evidence, it is concluded that the photo in the post has nothing to do with the recent Kisan tractor rally held in New Delhi.
To sum it up, an old photo of MS Dhoni inspecting his newly purchased tractor falsely linked to the Kisan tractor parade held in Delhi.