A picture from August 2019 showing a group of Sikhs holding a banner calling for the restoration of Article 370 and Article 35-A is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi and Haryana.
The photograph, which shows a banner that reads, ‘restore Article 370, 35A’ and ‘we stand with Kashmir and Kashmiris’, is being shared by several right-wing netizens, who are trying to give the farmer’s protest a different colour.
The image has gone viral over the last 24 hours with the caption ‘Farmers want article 370 and 35A to restored in Kashmir’ and additional text expressing sarcasm.
The image is also being shared on Twitter with a similar narrative.
A reverse image search by Boomlive.in using Google shows results of recent uploads of the photo. However, on changing the text in Google’s ‘best guess’ field to ‘Restore Article 370, 35A’ (the text on the banner), Boomlive.in said it found a similar image in Google’s Visually similar images.
Clicking on the image leads to the Facebook page of the ‘Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar’ (SAD).
Going through the photo album of the page we found a similar image uploaded on August 8, 2019 – three days after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A.
The men in the photograph and their attire are the same as those in the viral photo. The image appears to be taken in Amritsar.
On August 5, 2019 Home Minister Amit Shah announced the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in Parliament, bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
