| schema:text
| - Fact Check: This video of pro-Khalistan rally is not linked to farmers' protest
Farmers' unions on Wednesday rejected the Centre's draft proposal to amend the new farm laws, promising to intensify the agitation in the coming days.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The video is of a 2016 rally taken out by radical Sikh groups in Punjab’s Amritsar and has no connection to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.
Farmers’ unions on Wednesday rejected the Centre’s draft proposal to amend the new farm laws, promising to intensify the agitation in the coming days. The farmers’ issue has dominated social media for days, with a section of netizens alleging a Khalistani hand in the stir.
In this context, a one-minute video of a large group of Sikh men brandishing swords and raising pro-Khalistan slogans is circulating on social media with the claim that it is a scene from the ongoing farmers’ protest against the farm laws.
The caption in Hindi along with one such video translates to, “In the name of farmers’ movement, they are raising pro-Khalistan slogans with swords in hand.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the video is of a 2016 rally taken out by radical Sikh groups in Punjab’s Amritsar and has no connection to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA probe
Using InVID tool and appropriate keywords, we found a longer version of the video uploaded on a YouTube channel called “Khalsa Gatka Group” on May 25, 2016. The video caption says, “Live From Beas (Shiv Sena not Come to Amritsar)”.
Here is a screenshot comparison between the viral video and the 2016 video uploaded by “Khalsa Gatka Group”.
Taking a cue from this, we searched the Internet further and found several media reports on the same rally.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, on May 25, 2016, radical Sikh groups from across Punjab held an ‘Anakh Rally’ at the Beas bridge in Amritsar in protest against a ‘Lalkar Rally’ called by Hindu right-wing groups.
The ‘Lalkar Rally’ that was supposed to be held that the same site was, however, called off about three days back. It was called by Shiv Sena and other Hindu outfits against the demand for Khalistan.
We also found reports by The Times Of India and other local media outlets about the rally.
During the protest, Sikh hardliners raised provocative slogans and wielded batons and sharp-edged weapons, said “The Times Of India”. The rally was carried out by organisations such as Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwala) and Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee.
Therefore, it is clear that the viral video is more than four years old and not related to the ongoing farmers’ protest at the Delhi border.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)