Old, unrelated video shared as Sikh family praising PM Modi amid farmers’ protest

by Kinjal

Farmers have been protesting for several months now against three agricultural laws passed by the parliament in August. Amid the ongoing demonstrations, a video of a Sikh family is making the rounds on social media. A woman and two children also appear here. In the video, these individuals are praising Prime Minister Modi. They can be heard saying that there is no prime minister like Modi in the whole world while standing in salute. Twitter user Mahaveer Jain tweeted this clip with the caption, “We have a great leader with us #KisanStandsWithModi #FarmersWithPmModi.” It garnered over 21,000 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)

In a now-deleted tweet, BJP’s State Spokesperson Gaurav Goel had shared the visuals too. His post also contained the hashtag ‘#FarmersWithPmModi’. (Archive link)

This viral clip also made its way to Facebook with the accompanying claim. (Archive link)

 

हमारे पास एक ऐसे प्रधानमंत्री हैं जिनका कोई निजी हित नहीं हैं। वे जीते हैं तो सिर्फ #भारतमाता की आन के लिए और देश की जनता की शान के लिए। आओ ऐसे महान प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी का हम सभी समर्थन करें। 🙌
#KisanStandsWithModi
#FarmersWithPmModi #Narendermodi

Posted by Narayan Patel on Monday, December 7, 2020

Several others have been sharing the video on Facebook and Twitter with this hashtag as well.

BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (archive link) and Twitter user Akash RSS also posted the viral clip (archive link).

Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image of a few frames from the video and found that it had been posted on Facebook on April 21. It was created by TikTok user @chachabhatijaa. This user also has a Facebook page by the same name.

We also found a video posted on April 23 by a YouTube channel called Hello Giridih. The caption reads, “Giridih’s TikTok star Taranjit Singh’s video has gone viral #tiktokvideo #giridih.” The man is identified here as Taranjit Singh, a resident of Giridih.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F-818HIAN0]

We reached out to Singh for more information about this clip. “I recorded this on April 20. This video has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests. It was recorded while we were under lockdown. The number of Covid cases in India seemed to be under control at the time compared to the rest of the world. So, we created this to appreciate Prime Minister Modi’s decisions related to the Covid pandemic,” he revealed.

Singh shared a photo of an ABP News broadcast from April 22 where the video was covered.

While the viral TikTok creator has not made any comments about the farmers’ protests, he did share an image in support of India’s farmers on the ‘Chachabhatijaa’ Facebook page on December 10. (Archive link)

Therefore, an old TikTok video from April is being falsely shared as recent to drum up propaganda around the farmers’ protests.

About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.