A post is being shared on social media where people can be seen throwing milk from milk cans, emptying a milk tanker and throwing milk packets into a water body. The post claims that the people of Uttar Pradesh have taken this step to stop cow disease. Let’s fact-check this video through this article.
Claim: People of Uttar Pradesh threw away milk as a mark of protest against the government’s inaction against cow disease (lumpy skin disease).
Fact: The visuals in the viral video are related to the protests that occurred in Gujarat last month. The Maldhari community of Gujarat reportedly protested against a proposed cattle bill which prohibits the movement of stray cattle on roads and public spaces in the state’s urban areas. No such protest was reported in Uttar Pradesh. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Firstly, we looked on the internet for reports related to protests in Uttar Pradesh, as claimed in the post, but we could not find any relevant information. Searching on the internet with relevant keywords led us to a YouTube video containing one of the videos from the viral post in which people throw milk packets into a water body. The video is titled ‘milk throwing in Tapi river.‘
With this hint, we refined our keyword search on the internet and found a news report related to this. The report by TV9, published on 21 Sep 2022, contains the same video from the viral post, which can be seen from 00:31 seconds. Reportedly , there was outrage among the cattle owners across Gujarat against the Cattle Control Act. The article states that the stockholders would not sell milk and the protests spread to the whole of Gujarat.
Later, the government withdrew the proposed bill. The Hindu’s report on it says ‘Following massive protests by cattle-rearing communities, the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Wednesday unanimously withdrew a Bill aimed at prohibiting the movement of stray cattle on roads and public places in urban areas of the State, in a bid to pacify the communities ahead of the State polls.’ Times of India and New Indian Express also reported about the withdrawal, which can be read here and here.
Factly noticed that the same videos from the viral post are also being shared with the claim that they show people protesting in Surat, Gujarat, against the government’s inaction against the spread of Lumpy skin disease. These posts can be seen here and here.
To sum up, videos related to the protests in Gujarat against the Cattle Control Bill are falsely attributed to Uttar Pradesh and the Lumpy skin disease..
