New Delhi: Farmers from Punjab and Haryana who have been protesting against the central government’s new farm laws faced heavy police deployment, water cannons and tear gas in their march towards Delhi Thursday.
Two photos have been shared widely on social media since Thursday afternoon with the claim that Haryana police are using water cannons to disperse a large group of people.
Saurabh Bharadwaj, Greater Kailash MLA and spokesperson of the AAP, has shared one of these photos with a caption saying: “Does Delhi belong to Khattar’s (Manohar Lal Khattar) father that he is stopping the farmers? Delhi belongs to the farmers of this country.”
The photo shared by Bharadwaj, who has over 150k followers on Twitter, has been liked by more than 1,000 people.
दिल्ली क्या खट्टर के बाप की है जो वो किसानों को रोक रहा है। दिल्ली इस देश के किसानों की है। pic.twitter.com/kVrXElgcqD
— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) November 26, 2020
Not only Bharadwaj, but AAP’s national spokesperson Raghav Chadha has also shared the same photo with a quote by B.R. Ambedkar: “However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good.”
'However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good.'
– B. R. Ambedkar#ConstitutionDay pic.twitter.com/5rwaFidDll
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) November 26, 2020
Official Twitter account of the Indian National Congress’ Youth Wing has also shared the same photo, along with a few others, as it hit out at the Khattar government in Haryana.
“India can never forgive the govt who treats those who feed this nation like terrorists,” it said.
India can never forgive the govt who treats those who feed this nation like terrorists.#FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/uMObiNtYgh
— Youth Congress (@IYC) November 26, 2020
Many others, including YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, also posted the photo shared by Bharadwaj and Chadha on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.
Should India’s Agriculture Minister Spray Cannon or Meet the Farmers ? pic.twitter.com/tk71sn8BgT
— Military Veteran (@MILVETERAN) November 26, 2020
HUNDREDS OF FARMERS FROM PUNJAB AND HARYANA MARCHED TOWARDS DELHI WITH TRACTOR-TRAILERS TO PROTEST AGAINST THE CENTRE'S AGRICULTURE-RELATED LAWS
SUFFERED WATER CANNONS, SEATING IN ROAD HAVING DINNER AT THIS HEAVY COLD
I STAND WITH FARMERS ! ARE YOU? pic.twitter.com/NSeiaOlRd9
— ?????? ????? (@AdityaGupta_77) November 26, 2020
Also read: 1938 clip of BKS Iyengar is being shared as ‘rare’ video of PM Modi doing yoga
Fact check
ThePrint’s fact checker has found that the photos shared by AAP and the Youth Congress are not of the ongoing farmers protest but from a 2018 agitation led by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Tikait group). This includes the bottom left photo shared by the Youth Congress.
BKU farmers had marched towards Delhi in 2018 over demands that ranged from farm loan waiver to cut in fuel prices. They were stopped at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, with police using water cannons to disperse them.
In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer
Also read: Suicide bombing ‘ad’ not made by Volkswagen, it’s actually a 15-year-old spoof