This video does not show protesting farmers' rehearsal of the proposed tractor parade on Republic day - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 19, 2021
A post accompanying a video that shows a rally of tractors decorated with lights is being shared across social media platforms with a claim that it shows preparations for the upcoming tractor rally which the protesting farmers have planned to hold on 26 January 2021. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing preparations for the upcoming tractor rally which the protesting farmers have planned to hold on 26 January 2021.
Fact: This video is on the internet at least since December 2020. Many users shared the video as a tractor rally during Christmas in Ireland. Tractor rallies are an annual affair in agricultural areas of Ireland. The protesting farmers on 02 January 2021, announced that they will hold a tractor parade to Delhi on Republic Day, but this video is available on internet much before that announcement.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of screenshots of the video led us to a YouTube video that carried visuals similar to the video in the post. The video is uploaded on YouTube on 13 December 2020 and the caption of the video reads ‘Merry Christmas to the farmers’.
Further search led us to a 16 December 2020 Facebook post that shared the same video. As per the description of the post, the video shows the annual Christmas tractor run in Ireland. This establishes that the presence of this video on the internet predates the announcement of the tractor rally by protesting farmers.
Taking a cue from the Facebook video, Google search with relevant keywords led us to a few news articles which reported these rallies.  As per these articles, tractor rallies are an annual affair in agricultural areas of Ireland. According to one such article, a virtual procession took place in Nenagh, Ireland on 19 December 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. And the full video of this year’s procession can be seen here.
Farmer unions protesting against the new farm laws have organized tractor rallies on 07 January 2021 at multiple border points, calling it a rehearsal of the proposed march on 26 January 2021. However, the video in the post has nothing to do with this as the video is available on the internet much before the protesting farmers’ announcement of the proposed tractor rally on 26 January 2021.
In the wake of the protesting farmers’ announcement of their plan to hold a tractor parade towards Delhi on 26 January 2021, posts like these are being circulated on social media with misleading claims.
To sum it up, this video does not show protesting farmers rehearsal of proposed tractor parade on Republic day.