An aerial view of several tents set up at Kumbh Mela grounds is being peddled with a false claim that it shows tents at the ongoing farmers' protest site in Delhi borders.
Thousands of farmers have camped in and around the Delhi borders braving the harsh winters to protest against the three farm laws passed by the Center which they believe will benefit the big agri and retail players. The protesting farmers at the Delhi borders are camping in tents spread across large areas to protect themselves from the biting cold . According to an NDTV article, "While tractor trolleys continue to be the first choice to sleep in for the majority of farmers camping at the Delhi-Haryana highway, the insulated tents are proving to be a welcome addition in providing protection from the winter chill and probable rain."
Netizens are misleadingly claiming that the image shows the largest tent set up by the protesting farmers.
One such post has been captioned as, "World's largest Tent City setup at world largest protest at Delhi Border.#FarmersProtest"
Archive of the post can be seen here.
Kumbh Mela site falsely claimed as farmers protest site in Delhi
The image has also been tweeted by several Twitter users with a similar narrative.
Archives can be seen here and here.
It is also being shared in Punjabi with a caption that reads, ''A touching picture of the farmers movement, mini Punjab.'' (Original caption in Punjabi: ''ਕਿਸਾਨ ਅੰਦੋਲਨ ਦੀ ਦਿਲ ਨੂੰ ਛੂਹ ਜਾਣ ਵਾਲੀ ਤਸਵੀਰ ਮਿੰਨੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ'')
See archives here and here.
Also read: Elderly Sikh Farmer Collapsing At Protest Site In Viral Video is Alive
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search and found a Finnish website called Kerranelamassa with the same viral image. The headline of the article reads ''Maha Kumbh Mela, India's largest festival". The article gives a round up of Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious conglomeration of India. According to the article, the author clicked the images in 2013.
Picture of hundreds of tents at the Kumbh Mela site
We found another aerial image on the website, of the tents at Kumbh Mela which shows a cluster of tents under a bridge. The images have been clicked by Ville Palonen, photographer and co-founder of the website from Finland. BOOM has reached out to the photographer and will update the story upon a reply.
Aerial view of Kumbh Mela site by Ganges river
Further, we found similar images of tents at Kumbh Mela site on international stock photo site, Getty Images. A caption of a similar image on Getty Images reads, ''Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 India, Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces), Allahlabad . Maha Kumbh Mela 2013, daily life of the camp, view from the bridge.''
Kumbh Mela photo from Getty Images
Also read: No, This Is Not A National Geographic Cover On Farmers' Protests