Photos and videos from past farmer protests of different states are viral with the false claim that they are from the ongoing protests led by farmers in India.
Farmer groups across the country took out rallies and marches in protest of the two new farm bills passed by the Union Government. Farmers fear that the minimum support prices regime will be ended by the new bills and that they would lack negotiation power to bargain with corporations. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill (commonly referred to as the APMC Bypass Bill), and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed by the Parliament even as opposition parties protested. Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Industries and Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the cabinet in protesting against the government proposals.
The posts feature a video of a crowd marching and photos from other protests along with a collage of farmers. The posts' caption in Hindi reads: This flood of farmers in Panipat is telling that the time for the final immersion of the BJP has arrived .. In no time we will march towards Delhi, and we won't stop as much as the government tries to (पानीपत में उमड़ा किसानों का ये सैलाब बता रहा है, भाजपा के अंतिम विसर्जन का समय आ चुका है.. कुछ ही समय मे हम दिल्ली की ओर कूच करेंगे, जितना जोर है सरकार लगा ले, हम रुकेंगे नही..)
The archive of the post can be accessed here.
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Another post features an aerial video of people marching on a road with the caption claiming that the video shows visuals of farmers marching in Delhi's Barakhamba road on September 24.
The archive of the post can be accessed here.
Fact Check
BOOM found out that the images and videos being shared are old and unrelated to the current protests by farmers against the new farm bills passed by the government.
Video 1
BOOM broke the video down into keyframes and ran a reverse image searches on the frames. We were directed to this article by Zee News dated February 21, 2019 that said the video shows farmers part of the Kisan Long March who were on their way to Mumbai from Nashik.
The article featured a tweet by the official account of the CPI(M) which includes the same video as in the viral posts.
Picture 1
A reverse image search showed that the same image was published by YourStory on March 13, 2018 in a story about how farmers from across Maharashtra were marching to Mumbai. A custom keyword search led us to articles by Scroll.in and Indian Express which shows the same setting shot from a different angle. The caption of the Indian Express photo states that it was taken between Mulund and Sion in Mumbai.
BOOM could identify various similarities between the viral image and the Scroll image. The EXIF data in the Scroll article shows that the photo was clicked on March 11, 2018 at 1.28 pm.
The photo is from 2018 when farmers led by the All India Kisan Sabha marched from Nashik to Mumbai to gherao the Vidhan Sabha and demand complete loan waivers and implementing recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission among other demands. Read more about it here
Picture 2
BOOM found that this image is from 2017, shot during a protest by farmers in Rajasthan demanding loan waivers.
A reverse image search led BOOM to this article by Sabrang India dated September 11, 2017 about protests by farmers in Rajasthan in 2017 demanding loan waivers and a pension scheme for farmers.
We also found this article by The Wire which credited the same image to Wikimedia Commons. BOOM found the original image in the Wikimedia Commons archive which stated that the image was taken at a farmers' protest in Sikar on September 3.
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Video 2
BOOM ran a reverse image search with a frame from the video and found multiple articles on a 2018 protest by farmers in Delhi. BOOM found this video report by the news agency ANI on farmers marching to protest demanding debt relief, better MSP for crops among other demands.
