In light of the recent reports of an abrupt end to Prime Minister Modi’s Punjab visit due to a security lapse, a social media post accompanying a video of group of Sikhs on motorcycles raising pro Khalistan slogans is being shared widely. The post claims the video shows an incident on the day of Prime Minister’s visit. Let’s find out the truth about the video and fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Sikhs raising pro Khalistan slogans on the day of Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab.
Fact: The video is available on the internet much before PM’s visit to Punjab. The video is being shared in the context of Shaheedi Jodh Mela, event marking the martyrdom of two sons of Guru Gobind Singh. This video has nothing to do with PM’s Punjab visit. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The video is available on internet much before PM’s visit to Punjab. Reverse image search of the screenshots of the viral video led us to a YouTube video which carried similar visuals. This particular video was uploaded on YouTube on 27 December 2021 whereas the PM’s Punjab visit which abruptly ended due to security issues was on 05 January 2022.
As per the description accompanying the video, the visuals show Punjab youth organising Kesari march on the occasion of Shahidi Jodh Mela on 26 December 2021. Taking a cue from the YouTube video, Google search with ‘Shaheedi Jodh Mela’ as a keyword yielded multiple news articles (here and here) which reported the event. As per these articles, ‘the event marks the martyrdom of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh (Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh) who were bricked alive by the Mughals in 1705.’
Few other social media posts shared the same video much before PM’s visit, with the same description as above can be seen here and here.
Although we could not independently verify the occasion and location of the video, the presence of the video on the internet makes it evident that the video has nothing to do with the recent incident of Modi’s visit to Punjab.
To sum it up, unrelated video is passed off as a pro Khalistan rally on the day of Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab.
