Old image from Congress rally shared as farmers take out rally in bullock carts

Twitter and Facebook users have been sharing a photo of a fleet of bullock carts. The people riding on them are seen holding placards and flags. “This is a slap on the face of Godi media …the farmer’s movement has now reached the country’s most remote villages too,” reads the accompanying message.

This post by Facebook user Aarti Yadav received more than 400 shares at the time of writing.

Several other Facebook users also shared this picture of bullock carts linking it to the farmers’ movement.

The claim has been amplified by many Twitter users as well. (Archive link)

Two-year-old Congress rally

Alt News performed a reverse image search and came across an article by Patrika. The headline reads, “Congress launches bullock cart rally to protest petrol and diesel price hike”.

The story is dated September 13, 2018. It states that the Youth Congress and the National Student Union of India (NSUI) held a protest against the government in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat over the continuous increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.

The words “District Youth Congress Balaghat” and “Petrol Hua…Abki…Panje Ki…” are seen on some of the posters upon zooming into the viral image (the other words in the second poster are not visible). The flags of the Youth Congress can also be clearly seen. Apart from this, ‘UI’ is written on the NSUI flag.

Nai Dunia also published a report on this rally on September 14, 2018.

Therefore, a picture of a line of bullock carts was being shared online as proof of the widespread reach of the farmer protests. But the image is actually from a two-year-old Congress rally organised by the Youth Congress in Madhya Pradesh to protest against the rising prices of petrol and diesel. However, according to a January 25 Dainik Bhaskar report, farmers in Jaipur’s Sawai Madhopur held a bullock cart rally against the new farm laws.