FACT CHECK: Viral image of 2017 Jat protests passed off as farmers protest
A picture of a woman in a red saree driving a tractor filled with people waving the Indian flag is viral on social...
By Newsmeter Network Published on 4 Dec 2020 12:33 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A picture of a woman in a red saree driving a tractor filled with people waving the Indian flag is viral on social media. Users claim that the group is joining the farmers' protest at the Delhi border.
Many social media users shared this image with the caption:" A contingent from Haryana, with tractor driven by a woman, from yesterday's march to Tikri Border. Source: Twitter #Farmers Protest #DelhiChalo". (archive)
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FACT CHECK:
The claim that this group was joining the farmers protest at Delhi is false as the image is taken from another incident.
Newsmeter performed a reverse image search and found an article by "Hindustan Times", from February 2017 that carried the same image. The report talks about the Jat agitation that took place in Haryana in 2017. The caption of the image reads, "Jat women protesters on way to Jassia village during their agitation for reservation in Rohtak."
The same image was also found on the outlook photo gallery. (Image 28/103) with the same caption and credited to PTI.
According to several reports, the Jat community was demanding a quota in government jobs and education. The 2017 agitation "sought constitutional reservation in educational institutes and government job opportunities, to repeal criminal cases against Jats for joining the protest in 2016 and to compensate the families of those deceased during 2016 protests".
Evidently, the claim that this group was going to participate in farmers protest is false as the image belongs to 2017 incident.
