A set of old images of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and in Ludhiana have gone viral with misidentified locations to claim that Sikh men from Shaheen Bagh’s protest have also joined the ongoing farmers’ protest.
However, we found out that the image claimed to be from the ongoing farmers’ protest, is actually an old image from February, when members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union had joined the anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh.
CLAIM
The images were shared with different captions to claim that they showed farmers who had earlier protested in Shaheen Bagh, now at the ongoing farmers’ protest.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Both the images are from anti-CAA protests in February and March. While one is from Ludhiana, the other is from Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
IMAGE 1
A reverse image search led us to a Facebook post by ‘Naujawan Bharat Sabha,’ which stated that 14 organisations of farmers, labourers, youth, students and Muslim community organisation, Majlis Ahrar Islam Hind will meet on 9 March at the Jalandhar Bypass, in Ludhiana. The location was dubbed as “Ludhiana’s Shaheen Bagh.”
We also found the image on Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Facebook page, with the same caption, dated 3 March 2020.
The words ‘Shaheen Bagh Ludhiana’ can also be seen written in English and Urdu, along with ‘लुधियाना का शाहीन बाघ ‘ in Hindi.
We also found a picture of the same banner of “Shaheen Bagh Ludhiana” on The Tribune’s Punjabi website, identifying the location of the protest at Jalandhar bypass.
The Wire also carried a report on the anti-CAA rally which was held on 9 March at the Jalandhar bypass.
Hence, the image is from Ludhiana and not Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
IMAGE 2
The Quint had earlier found the image on Bhartiya Kisan Union’s Facebook page, while debunking a false claim that the woman at the centre, wearing a red top, is the same woman who had visited the Hathras victim’s family, pretending to be her sister-in-law.
We looked up the addresses of the three stores in the background of the viral image, namely Panache Exhibitions, Peter England and Raymond.
Panache Exhibitions had one branch office in Delhi in Kalindi Kunj at Shop No G-66, according to their website. We also found a Raymond shop and Peter England at G-66, Kalindi Kunj on Justdial.
Photos on Google Map from 2017 show the boards of all three shops, similar to the viral image.
The Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch had been occupied by those protesting against CAA.
The Quint had earlier reported in February that members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union had joined the protests at Shaheen Bagh against CAA. The report also carries visuals of Sikh men carrying the same flags as those in the viral image, of Bharatiya Kisan Union,
Hence, the image is not of the ongoing farmers’ protest but from February, when members of the BKU had lent their support to the Shaheen Bagh protesters.
The old image has been linked to the farmers’ protest to make false claims.
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