Photo from Bihar is portrayed as West Bengal farmers expression of gratitude towards PM Modi

A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the expression of gratitude from West Bengal farmers towards PM Narendra Modi. Photo of farmers arranging paddy samplings in a formation that reads ‘BJP मोदी’ is shared in this post. In the context of mixed opinion from the farmers on the three new Agriculture bills passed by the Modi government, this post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Claim: Photo of West Bengal farmers arranging paddy saplings in the formation that reads ‘BJP मोदी’.
Fact: The photo shows Bihar farmworkers arranging paddy saplings as the expression of their support towards PM Narendra Modi and BJP ahead of the Bihar elections. 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 the news gallery article published by ‘Outlook India’ news website. In the description of the photo, it is mentioned that the farmworkers in Kaimur district of Bihar put paddy saplings in the formation that reads ‘BJP MODI’. It is mentioned as the farmworkers expression of their support to PM Narendra Modi and BJP ahead of the Bihar election polls. Photo is credited to PTI in the article.

The same photo with a similar description found in the news gallery article published by ‘One India’ news website. In the article, it is mentioned that this incident took place on ‘12 July 2020’ at Kaimur district of Bihar.

West Bengal is the only state that is not implementing PM-Kisan Yojana that gives 6000 rupees annually to farmers. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar blamed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for 10 Lakh Bengal farmers not getting PM-Kisan benefits. Following the Agriculture amendment bills passed in Lok Sabha, West Bengal witnessed protests as well as the counter-protests from the farmers and political parties.

To sum it up, three months old photo from Bihar is falsely portrayed as the expression of gratitude from the West Bengal farmers towards PM Narendra Modi.