2019 video of pro-CAA rally in Delhi shared as youth in Haryana decrying farmers' protest in India

What is the claim?

In the wake of the ongoing protests by farmers in India, a video is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows the youth of Haryana giving a call to use physical force against the agitators. In the video, a crowd can be heard raising slogans in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Delhi Police and advocating the use of violence against some people. 

Several users shared the video with inflammatory comments against the farmers and claimed that the “youth of Haryana was troubled by Khalistani protests.” Archived versions of such posts can be viewed here and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts.(Source: X/ Modified by Logically Facts)

The protesting farmers have been camping on the Punjab-Haryana border for days as the authorities are preventing them from entering Delhi. Amid the protests, several old and unrelated visuals have been wrongly linked to the farmers’ agitation. 

The viral video in question, too, is also not related to the protests. 

How did we verify this?

We found a Facebook post shared on December 25, 2019, by a user named ‘Troll Indian Politics,’ who had uploaded a clearer version of the now-viral video. The video was shared with the caption, ‘“Delhi police latth bajao hum tumhare saath hain (Delhi Police pick up sticks, we are with you’ slogans in yesterday rally (sic).”

This video was also shared by Jawahar Yadav, the Haryana chief spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, on his X (formerly Twitter) account on December 26, 2019, as reported by Lokmat News on December 17, 2019. The report stated that the video shows protests in support of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the Indian parliament in December 2019. 

The crowd in the video urges the Delhi Police to “pick up sticks,” hinting that the video was from Delhi, not Haryana.

At the 0:02 timestamp, we identified a store called ‘Unik Bazar.’ We were able to geolocate this store to the Laxmi Nagar market in Delhi.

A store seen in the viral video could be geolocated on Google Maps as well. (Sources: Screenshots/X/Google Maps)

In the clearer version of the video, uploaded by the user ‘Troll Indian Politics,’ we see the rally crossing a store named ‘Lata Sarees’ around the 0:10 mark. We were able to locate this store on Google Maps as well. Though Google Street View was not available for the store’s surroundings, we noted that it is just 20 meters away from a store named ‘Rishabh,’ which we had geolocated next to ‘Unik Bazaar.’

 Visual comparison of another outlet visible in the viral clip and the same store as on Google Maps. (Source: Facebook/Google Maps)

The above evidence proves that the viral video is from Delhi and is unrelated to Haryana. The viral video had been online years before the farmers’ protests broke out and most likely shows a pro-CAA rally from December 2019.

Massive protests had erupted in several parts of India, including the national capital, against the CAA, which provides a path to Indian citizenship for immigrants from certain religious minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India before December 2014. The law was criticized for excluding Muslim immigrants. 

The verdict

The viral video of a mob raising slogans supporting PM Modi and asking Delhi Police to beat people with sticks is from Delhi and is unrelated to the ongoing farmers’ protest. It shows a pro-CAA rally from December 2019. Therefore, we marked the claim as false.