False claim of pro-Khalistan slogans raised in Punjab after AAP's victory viral - Alt News
Kinjal
15th March 2022 / 5:13 pm
A video from a political rally where participants are chanting ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ is circulating widely on social media. It has been claimed that pro-Khalistan slogans were raised following the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Punjab.
One Twitter user shared the clip, adding that change has started in Punjab as soon as AAP was voted to power.
.@AamAadmiParty के आते ही पंजाब में बदलाव शुरू हो गया* pic.twitter.com/GTJGWh9oqA
— Sunil Mittal 🇮🇳 (@TheSunilMittal) March 12, 2022
Twitter user Vinod Sharma also promoted the video as pro-Khalistan sloganeering following AAP’s victory. (Archive link)
पंजाब मे केजरुद्दीन के सरकार बनते ही खालिस्तानीओ का खेल खालिस्तान की मांग शुरू हो गया वामपंथी कांग्रेस आमदमी पार्टी के समर्थक है ये देशद्रोही खालिस्तान समर्थक 😣👇 pic.twitter.com/2UXxClHJdY
— Vinod Sharma #HTL 🕉️ (@vinodsharma1834) March 13, 2022
The visuals are widespread on Twitter and Facebook with the same claim.
Upon taking a closer look, we noticed that some of the placards carried by the people in the video read ‘Justice for Deep Sidhu’. Deep Sidhu was a Punjabi actor-activist, who was frequently in the headlines for his participation in the farmer protests. He was arrested after the violence that occurred at the Kisan Tractor Rally. Sidhu died in a road accident earlier in February. Fans of the actor took out rallies in several areas of Punjab in his honour.
When we performed a keyword search using this information, Alt News came across a YouTube video posted on February 22. The video description mentions that the scenes are from Bathinda, Punjab.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw5J-ETw_p8]
Website NEWJ also shared this video on Facebook on February 25 and wrote that slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ were raised in the rallies taken out to commemorate Deep Sidhu.
In a video report found on VK News’ YouTube channel, scenes from the viral video appear at the 0:12 mark. The anchor mentions that pro-Khalistan slogans were raised during a rally in Punjab’s Bathinda. News18 Hindi also reported that there was pro-Khalistan sloganeering during Deep Sidhu’s last rites ceremony.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsbE1k02rY4?start=77]
To sum it up, footage of a rally organised in February 2022 to commemorate late actor Deep Sidhu was falsely shared in connection to the Aam Aadmi Party’s recent victory in the Punjab assembly elections. It was falsely claimed that pro-Khalistan slogans were raised in the state after AAP’s win. Alt News could not find any media reports to corroborate the claim. This is not the first time such a clip was circulated against the backdrop of election results being announced.
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.
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