India TV Fact Check: A video is going viral on social media, claiming that people are protesting against BJP leaders by displaying black flags while sitting on a tractor ahead of the state assembly elections. However, when we fact-checked this video and found that this video is old.
What is the claim?
A video of about 2 minutes 20 seconds, is circulating widely on social media, showing a crowd protesting against BJP leaders while sitting on a tractor and displaying black flags. With the Haryana assembly elections round the corner, users are sharing this video, claiming that there is strong opposition to Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini.
Facebook user Rajesh Deshwal shared the viral video on September 24 and wrote, "BJP's path is becoming very difficult in Haryana. Chief Minister Naib Saini is facing strong opposition." Another user Karn Singh Arya wrote, "Chief Minister Naib Saini is facing strong opposition in Haryana. The BJP leaders who used to hate the farmer's tractor, today they have come out to ask for votes sitting on the tractor."
We investigated the claim
As the video was going viral on social media, we decided to investigate this claim. We conducted a reverse search of key frames from the video, we found that it belongs to Rajveer Singh RV. The video was originally posted on a Facebook page called 'Hindu Express TV', where it was shared with the claim that it depicted a tractor rally organised by the BJP in Haryana on October 16, 2020. The user wrote in the caption of the video, "Slogans of 'Sarkar Murdabad' were raised in Haryana. The tractor rally being organised by the BJP in Haryana was surrounded by farmers."
Carrying forward the investigation, we looked for media reports using relevant keywords on Google and found a video on a YouTube channel of 'Hind Express TV.' The video was uploaded on October 14, 2020, in which it reported that Union Minister of State Ratan Lal Kataria and Kurukshetra MP Nayab Saini faced opposition during a tractor rally held in support of agricultural laws in Narayangarh, Ambala. Farmers stopped the BJP rally for several hours, displaying black flags and shouting slogans against the leaders.
According to the report of Dainik Bhaskar, the tractor rally was strongly opposed by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). The farmers stopped the tractors involved in this rally on National Highway 72 for about three and a half hours and created a ruckus. During this, hundreds of farmers showed black flags to BJP leaders.
What came out in Fact Check?
The fact check revealed that the video which is going viral on social media is a four-year-old of the tractor rally taken out by the BJP in support of agricultural laws in October 2020. The users are sharing this video with a misleading claim. Users are advised to be cautious of such videos.
(With PTI Inputs)
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