These photos have circulated since 2017 in reports about pro-Punjabi language demonstrations
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on January 14, 2021 at 10:00
- 2 min read
- By AFP India
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The collage was published on Facebook here on January 9, 2021.
The post’s Hindi-language caption translates to English as: “They are pursuing Khalistani agenda under the pretext of farmers protest. The true face [of the protests] is now being revealed. They demolished telecommunication towers and are now opposing Hindi language in Punjab. They are now speaking against Hindi language after having spoken out against India, Indian and Indian industrialists.”
Khalistan is a Sikh political ideology that calls for an independent homeland for Indian Sikhs.
"Farmers’ protest" refers to widespread demonstrations by Indian farmers against new agriculture laws introduced by the central government, as AFP reported here.
The caption refers to the vandalisation of mobile network towers, allegedly by protesting farmers, in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, as reported here by the Hindustan Times.
The collage was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, here and here and on Twitter here, here, here and here.
The claim, however, is misleading.
A Google keyword search found a similar set of images was published on YouTube here by India TV news on October 25, 2017, almost three years before the Indian farmers’ protest began.
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