A video of a train with an ad for Adani Wilmar - a food FMCG company - on the engine is viral with a misleading claim that the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has taken over the Indian Railways.
The video shows a WAP 7 train engine which has the station code BRC for Vadodara. The camera pans to the side of the engine to show Adani Wilmar branding and then an advertisement banner of Saffola flour.
Adani Wilmar is a joint venture between the Adani Group and Singapore's Wilmar International Ltd - an agri business. Its products are primarily edible oils and food grains.
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The video is viral in the backdrop of the recent farmers protests at Delhi, where protesting farmers allege that the new farm legislations will benefit big agri/retail players like Adani and Reliance at the expense of farmers.
The caption with the video reads, "Adani Airports..Adani ports..Adani Power....Adani Coal India..Adani Railways.."
An archive of the post is available here.
An archive of a similar post is available here.
Another claim brings in the angle of farmer protests. The caption claims, "Adani's fresh flour advertisements are worth watching on the Indian Railways. Now we can say with the claim that the farmers' fight is on the path of truth."
भारतीय रेल पर अदानी के फ़्रेश आटे का विज्ञापन देखने लायक़ हैं। अब तो दावे के साथ कह सकते है की किसानों की लड़ाई सत्य के मार्ग पर हैं।
Archive of the here.
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दावा: #फेसबुक पर एक वीडियो के साथ यह दावा किया जा रहा है कि सरकार ने भारतीय रेल पर एक निजी कंपनी का ठप्पा लगवा दिया है। #PIBFactCheck: यह दावा भ्रामक है। यह केवल एक वाणिज्यिक विज्ञापन है जिसका उद्देश्य केवल 'गैर किराया राजस्व' को बेहतर बनाना है। pic.twitter.com/vSmK8Xgdis
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 16, 2020
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, General Secratary of the Indian National Congress also shared the video on her Facebook page. (Click here to view an archive)
Hardik Patel, President of President Gujarat Congress also tweeted the same video with a caption that said 'Adani's advertisement of flour on the Indian Railways mean that the farmers' protest is on the right path.' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra later retweeted this tweet.
(Original text in Hindi: भारतीय रेल पर अदानी के फ़्रेश आटे का विज्ञापन देखने लायक़ हैं। अब तो दावे के साथ कह सकते है की किसानों की लड़ाई सत्य के मार्ग पर हैं।)
An archive of the tweet is available here.
Tweets with similar captions are archived here and here.
BOOM received the picture on the helpline for verification as well.
ALSO READ: Why Are Australians Protesting Against Adani Group?
Fact Check
A look at the engine number mentioned in the video, WAP7 30502. A keyword search with 'Adani Wap 7 engines' takes us to articles about locomotive branding, a channel of displaying ads on the train engines and carriages, through which Indian Railways earns a part of its revenue.
According to a Financial Express report, the Vadodara, Gujarat division of the Western Railways, generates revenue of 73.26 lakh per annum through locomotive branding. On February 27, 2020, 5 WAP 7 locomotives were allotted to Adani Wilmar on pro-rata basis.
This video by Rail Info shows branded railway engines, like the one in the viral video.
A press release from Adani Wilmar's website also states that locomotive engines with Adani and fortune branding have been flagged off at Vadodara, which has the station code 'BRC,' which is same as the same station code in the viral video.
The government's fact-checking arm PIB Fact Check also tweeted that the claim circulating with the video was false.
"This claim is misleading. This is just a commercial advertisement intended to improve non-fare revenue only," PIB FactCheck's tweet in Hindi said.
भारतीय रेल पर अदानी के फ़्रेश आटे का विज्ञापन देखने लायक़ हैं। अब तो दावे के साथ कह सकते है की किसानों की लड़ाई सत्य के मार्ग पर हैं। pic.twitter.com/WB97kaG6Fe
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) December 12, 2020
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