A post with the video of a woman participating in a protest in Mercedes Benz car is doing rounds on social media mocking the farmers’ protests in Punjab. The description of the post states that poor farmers in Punjab cannot afford tractors and so are forced to protest in Mercedes Benz car. Here is a fact-check of this claim.
Claim: Farmers in Punjab are protesting in Mercedes Benz cars.
Fact: The person seen inside atop the Mercedes Benz car in the video is Japji Khaira, a Punjabi actress who was expressing solidarity with farmers against the farm bills. In a video shared by the actress on her Facebook account, the Mercedes Benz car with the same registration number can be seen. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Google search with the keyword ‘Punjab farmers protest’ led us to a video shared on Facebook by actress Japji Khaira. In the video, she can be heard expressing solidarity with the farmers in their protests against the recent farm bills. In this particular video, she can be seen standing beside the same Merceds Benz car which is seen in the posted video.The registration number of the car in both the videos is the same. With this, we can conclude that the car belongs to the actress and not the protesting farmers.
News reports about the actress being vocal in her opposition about the farm bills and supporting farmers protests against the bills can be seen here and here. She also shared videos on her social media accounts which can be seen here and here.
In the light of the ongoing protests by farmers against the recently passed farm bills, posts like these are being shared on social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, video of Japji Khaira, Punjabi actress expressing solidarity with farmers is being shared as farmers protesting in Mercedes Benz cars in Punjab.
