An old video of a tractor rally is circulating on social media with a misleading claim that the clip shows a rally in support of the wrestlers who are protesting against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
BOOM found that the video is old and is not related to the ongoing protest by the athletes. The clip shows a tractor rally held in Kerala in 2021 against the three farm bills introduced by the central government in late 2020, which led to wide-scale protests.
National-level wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh along with other athletes have alleged that Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh, sexually harassed multiple women and demanded that he should step down from the WFI president post. As per reports, Singh has a criminal history and is accused of multiple charges including murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, theft, rioting, and kidnapping.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha farmers union also announced earlier this month that they will hold nationwide protests in support of the wrestlers. The viral video is being shared in this context.
The Facebook page of the Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress shared the video and wrote, "Tractors have left, all reached Jantar Mantar. Reach Delhi with tractor. Wrestlers protest."
(Original Text in Hindi: ट्रैक्टर निकल चुके हैं सभी Jantar Mantar पहुंचे ट्रैक्टर लेकर दिल्ली चलो Wrestlers Protest)
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Fact Check
BOOM found that the video is from 2021 and shows a tractor rally in Kerala and has no connection to the ongoing wrestlers' protest in Delhi.
A 'Manorama News' logo can be seen in the viral video. Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search on YouTube with the name of the channel and found that the logo is that of Kerala-based news outlet named Manorama News.
We then went through the videos uploaded on the channel and found a longer version of the same video was uploaded on January 3, 2021.
The exact sequence of the viral video can be seen from 50 seconds to 2 minutes 46 seconds.
The Malayalam caption with the video translates to, "Solidarity with Farmers' Struggle; Kisan March led by Shafi Parambil".
A related keyword search in Malayalam also led us to a Manorama Online news report about the tractor rally that was held at that time. The report published on January 3, 2021, states that the tractor march began from Kuzhalmandam and witnessed footfalls of several Congress leaders including Shafi Parambil.
NDTV on January 1, 2021, reported that the Kerala Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution seeking the withdrawal of all three controversial agricultural laws enacted by the parliament in September 2022. Another news report by The Hindu from January 27, 2021, states multiple tractor rallies were held across Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and parts of Tamil Nadu in solidarity with the agitating farmers.
We also found a Facebook post by Congress MLA and Youth Congress state president Shafi Parambil who thanked the Youth Congress supporters for showing solidarity with the protesting farmers.
He shared a picture of the rally on January 3, 2021, and wrote, "Youth Congress Jai Kisan March at Palakkad, Kerala. Thank you for your heartfelt support and solidarity shown to the toiling farmers of our country. Youth Congress pledges our undiluted support to the farmers, the backbone of our great nation."
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