Chennai-based activist’s image shared as Amulya Noronha at farmers’ protest

Two images have been shared with the claim, “The girl who said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ is now our farmers’ leader.” One of the photos shows 19-year-old activist Amulya Leona Noronha with president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi. Amulya was arrested last year under the sedition law for chanting “Pakistani Zindabad” in a speech. The other image shows a woman, claimed to be Amulya, posing with farm bill protestors.

(Viral Telugu text: పాకిస్తాన్ జిందాబాద్ అన్న ఈ పిల్ల, ఈ రోజు రైతు నాయకురాలు, ఇది మన దరిద్రం)

The images have been shared with both English and Telugu (1, 2) texts on social media. Twitter user @shankstar16‘s tweet gained over 300 retweets.

Twitter user @SanggitaT wrote, “The same girl in Farmers protest …. Who raised Pakistan Zindabad in MIM meeting …. What is this connection … Who are the forces behind this …. All the same faces seen in every Anti National protest ..”

The post is widespread on Facebook.

Fact-check

While rummaging the replies to the tweet by @shankstar16 we found a tweet by @rana_dheeran that stated that the name of the woman in the picture with Sikh men is Valarmathi.

Adhu amulya illa

Namma ooru puratchi pulltee

Valarmathi

— தீரன்🚩🇮🇳 (@rana_dheeran) January 27, 2021

Using relevant keyword search on Facebook, we found that the image in question was posted by Chennai-based Valarmathi Sums on January 26.

Valarmathi, a student activist, told The Quint, “I am in the first photo, not Amulya. We had gone to Delhi for the 26 January farmers’ rally because we wanted to understand the issues by being directly on the ground and extend our solidarity. The picture was taken at Tikri border, and the man in the image is a close relative of Bhagat Singh, which is why we wanted to get a picture clicked.”

Amulya had participated in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In February 2020, she raised “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in the presence of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi during a protest rally. Her friends said that Amulya wanted to reiterate a Facebook post where she hailed several countries in an attempt to show that people who fight for fundamental rights are not bound by borders. Amulya spent four months in prison on sedition charges before she was granted bail.

An image of Chennai-based student activist Valarmathi Sumsat at Tikri border was shared with the false claim that she is Amulya Leona Noronha, anti-CAA student activist from Hyderabad.