Protesting farmers didn’t blacken Hindi signboards, viral photos and video are of other events

Photographs and a video of Hindi signboards being blackened have gone viral, with the claim that farmers protesting against the three farm laws were behind it.

A screenshot of the video going viral on social media | Twitter| @DrSantoshvyas1

New Delhi: A video of a Sikh man painting a Hindi sign board black went viral Saturday. The video was shared with a claim that it was from the famers’ protests and the real motive behind the ongoing agitation was to protest against the use of Hindi.

“The real face has now surfaced, after breaking the tower, Hindi will no longer run in Punjab. The peasant movement is an excuse Hindu and Hindu protest is the real motive. This is the Khalistani movement, terrorists in disguise of farmers, their supporters. Their agenda is to spread anarchy, separatism, casteism,” the caption read.

असली चेहरा अब सामने आ गया टॉवर तोड़ने के बाद अब पंजाब में हिंदी नही चलेगी।
किसान आन्दोलन बहाना है हिन्दू और हिन्दू विरोध असली मकसद है।
ये खालिस्तानी आंदोलन है, किसानों के भेष में आतंकी,उनके समर्थक है।
उनका एजेंडा,अराजकता, अलगाववाद, जातिवाद फैलाना है pic.twitter.com/vWhMddCQL5

— Dr.Santosh vyas…?? (@DrSantoshvyas1) January 9, 2021

The video has been retweeted over 200 times on Twitter.

असली चेहरा अब सामने आ रहा है।

टॉवर तोड़ने के बाद अब पंजाब में हिंदी नही चलेगी।

किसान आन्दोलन बहाना है हिन्दू और हिन्दू विरोध असली मकसद है।

ये ही है,किसान आंदोलन की हकीकत?
ये खालिस्तानी आंदोलन है, किसानों के भेष में आतंकी,उनके समर्थक है।

उनका एजेंडा,अराजकता फैलाना और
थ्रेड
? pic.twitter.com/U5HRiTBURq

— श्रीष त्रिपाठी ?? (@Shrish_1987) January 9, 2021

Several Twitter users also shared photographs of signboards in Hindi being blackened. These photographs were shared with similar captions accusing the farmers’ agitation of being a Khalistani movement.

@nehaltyagi08 @beingarun28
असली चेहरा अब सामने आ रहा है।
मोबाइल टॉवर तोड़ने के बाद अब पंजाब में हिंदी नही चलेगी!#किसान_आंदोलन केवल एक बहाना वास्तव में इन्हें अलगाव फैलाना है।
ये एक खालिस्तानी आंदोलन है, किसानों के भेष में आतंकी व उनके समर्थक है।#FarmersProtestHijacked pic.twitter.com/vsV6A9is8a

— RAJESHKUMAR JOSHI ?? (@rcjoshi1974) January 9, 2021

The photographs were also shared on Facebook.

Fact check

ThePrint fact checker has found that neither the video nor the photographs are from the current farmers’ protest. The photos are from 2017, when some organisations in Punjab had demanded that Punjabi should get precedence over other languages in signboards.

It later resulted in the Punjab government placing Punjabi on top of Hindi and English on national highway signages.

The video, on the other hand, is from a movement against the imposition of Hindi in September last year.

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer