2016 Video Of Ink Attack On BJP MP Falsely Linked To Farmer Protests

A nearly four-year old video showing miscreants smear ink on the face of former MP Rajkumar Saini from Haryana, has been revived and falsely linked to ongoing protests against three farm reform bills.

The clip shows the Bharatiya Janata Party politician wearing a yellow headgear ambushed by a group of men who smear ink on his face and begin to rain blows on him. The assailants launched an attack under the pretext of taking a photograph with Saini.

While the English caption with the video identifies the man as Saini, former BJP MP from Kurukshetra; Hindi text with the clip online claims he is a BJP leader named Satyam Singh.

"Jats of Haryana blacken BJP MP Saini and hit by shoes & this news was not shown on any channel. 😭😭😭," viral posts claim.

View the Twitter posts here and here.

Meanwhile Hindi posts directly link the incident to the farmers opposing the reform bills. The caption accompanying the video reads: "Trends related to the Haryana Farmers Bill are here. First receive the results, BJP leader Satyam Singh receives a brilliant welcome from the farmers."

(Translated from Hindi: हरियाणा किसान बिल के रुझान आने लगे..पहला भूमि सूजन भाजपा नेता सत्यम सिंह का जोरदार स्वागत किसानों द्वारा..)

View the post here

Fact Check

BOOM did a reverse image search and a keyword search of the terms Saini, ink, and Haryana in Hindi and came across a few videos and news reports from October 16, 2016.

Punjab Keshari uploaded a video in October 2016 showing the five men gathering around Saini, the then BJP MP from Kurukshetra.

BOOM also found several news articles in Hindi and English reporting on the incident. All the five accused were booked under section 307 (attempting to murder) which was opposed by several Khap Panchayats in Haryana. The charge was invoked as Saini reportedly felt threatened for his life.

The assailants accused Saini of fanning communal tension in Haryana, a charge the MP denied - an article at the time by the Tribune reported.

The accused were arrested and later granted bail. The attempt to murder charges were revoked after the investigation team did not find any harmful chemicals in the ink that was used to blacken Saini's face.

The ongoing farmer protests have led to an increase in misinformation surrounding farmers. Many older pictures and videos have been revived with misleading narratives and claims.