The Indian Army has denied claims that its troops are being moved into Delhi to tackle the ongoing farmers' protest after video clips showing convoys of trucks of the armed forces surfaced on social media with the same narrative. BOOM spoke to colonel Aman Anand, spokesperson of the Indian Army, who termed the claims as "fake and malicious".
These viral video clips started doing the rounds on social media from December 10. The clips, recorded by a man travelling in a car, show visuals near a toll plaza, which he identifies as Ghaziabad toll plaza. As the car stops before the toll booth, the man can be heard as saying in Hindi, "Army has been called in Delhi. This is Ghaziabad toll plaza's visuals. The Indian Army has been called in Delhi because of the ongoing farmers' protest. Their vehicle's queue is very long... stretches to almost 1.5 km."
Archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
The audio of the clip has been muted and shared by the handle Sri Guru Singh Sabha, a UK based Sikh organisation, with a similar claim.
Also Read: Farmers' Protests: How Old Visuals Were Used To Peddle A Pro-Khalistan Narrative
Archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
Archive of the post can be accessed here.
In another video, the same man can be seen filming visuals of a convoy of army trucks, which he claims to be shot ahead of the Ghaziabad toll plaza in Delhi. As he films, he speculates, "The Indian Army has been called by Delhi to quash the farmers protest. There is a long movement of army trucks. The Modi government is hatching a plan to end the farmers' protest. I am recording them myself. The voice of the farmers should reach everywhere."
Archive of the post can be accessed here.
Several farmers' unions have camped at Delhi's borders to protest against the three new farm bills which have been passed by the BJP led government. The protesters have demanded the laws be repealed and have vowed to continue their protests until their demands are met.
In this backdrop, the video clips of military convoys travelling through urban areas are being shared to claim that the government has tasked the army to deal with the protesters.
Also Read: Farmers Protest: Old Images Of Sikhs Disrespecting Tricolour Resurface
BOOM also received the same video with a message in Hindi on its helpline number for verification.
Army moves for various reasons: Indian Army spokesperson
Speaking to BOOM, Col Anand denied the claims and said, "Army moves for various reasons like annual training camps or when relocating. The inference that it's for any internal cause is false and motivated. Pls do not believe it (sic)."
However, Col Anand declined to state the reason behind the military movement.
The PIB's official Twitter handle denied the claims in the tweet stating that the video shows routine movement of the army and is unrelated to the farmers' protest.
Fact-checking website Fact Crescendo contacted spokespersons at the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Both denied the claim that the Army has been deployed in Delhi to control the protests.
A Bharat Bhushan Babu, Spokesperson of Ministry of Defence, told Fact Crescendo, "The video which is going viral claiming about the deployment of army against protesting farmers around Delhi is Fake. The army convoy seen in the video was actually carrying artilleries and was on a general transit, the convoy only had artillery machines on movement and the army trucks were not moving soldiers."
