An old video showing a man removing his skull cap and wearing a turban is viral online with the false claim that the man is a Muslim impersonating a Sikh to participate in the ongoing farmers' protest.
BOOM found that the claims are false, the video is from June 2022 and shows a turban tying camp organised ahead of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala's funeral.
Farmers from more than 200 unions are marching to the capital as part of the Delhi Chalo protest to demand a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP), justice in the Lakhimpuri Kheri violence, and waiver of farmer debts. According to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the Centre has proposed a five-year plan for MSP during a fourth round of talks with the farmers, following which the protests have been put on hold till February 21.
Amid this, the video of a group men, including one Muslim man getting turbans tied around their heads is viral online. BJP Telangana party member Satish Chandra shared the video with the caption, "The Reality 👇"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video was also shared by right-wing users Rishi Bagree and Megh Updates. BOOM has previously debunked several false and misleading posts made by Bagree and Megh Updates.
The video is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "Kisan Andolan, reality.👆Once 👆Religion is first all others are last..🤔"
Click here to view.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false, the video is from a turban tying camp organised before the funeral of deceased rapper Sidhu Moosewala and is unrelated to the ongoing farmers' protest.
Sidhu Moosewala was a popular Punjabi singer and rapper who was assassinated on May 29, 2022, near his hometown of Moosa, in the Mansa district of Punjab. Canadian gangster Goldy Brar had claimed responsibility for the assassination shortly after Moosewala's death.
We noticed a text in Punjabi on the top left corner of the video.
A rough translation of this text using Google Lens read, "Turban training camp. On the last prayer of Veer Sidhu Moose Wala"
We ran a search on Google using the same Punjabi text and found a Facebook post by Sardarian Trust, Punjab shared on June 10, 2022. The video in this post was an exact match to the viral video and the caption, translated from Punjabi read, "For Moosewala's last prayer, 'Sardarian Trust has put up a turban training, Muslim and Hindu brothers also decorate turbans. For turban training camp."
We also noticed a banner in the background with a picture of Sidhu Moosewala.
We scanned Sardarian Trust's Facebook page and found that they had posted several photos and videos requesting Sidhu Moosewala's fans to show up for his funeral wearing a turban.
Click here to view.
We then reached out to Harpreet Singh, District President of Sardarian Trust, who confirmed that the viral video was shot on June 8, 2022, before Moosewala's funeral and final rites. "We organised this turban tying camp in Moosa, as per the request of his father." Singh added that their trust regularly organised these camps and distributed turbans, also known as Dastaar, for free during several occasions including the farmers' protest.
Addressing the man in the skull cap, Singh said, "When we organised this camp, a Muslim man showed up too. So we tied a turban for him as well."