Video of a tractor sale falsely shared linking to farmers’ protest

Video shows an argument over the sale of a tractor at Barnala tractor market in Punjab. It has no link to farmers’ protest.

Farmer unions started their protest march to Delhi to force the Union government to meet their demands on 13 February. Pictures and videos from farmers’ protest venues are widely circulated through social media. Against this backdrop, a video showing a person being beaten for asking Rs 40,000 is being widely circulated on social media. The video has been claimed to show money being offered to farmers to participate in the ongoing farmers’ protest. 

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Fact Check-

A reverse image search revealed that the viral video is available on YouTube from January 20. So it is clear that this video has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ strike.

YouTube

In further search, we found the same video is also available on Instagram also. It was uploaded on 18 January 2024. According to the description of the post, the people are negotiating to buy a tractor.

According to a post published on January 21, the video is from a Tractor Mandi in Barnala. This is the event where the tractor is bargained for.

Barnala is a city in Punjab. Such tractor mandis (tractor markets) are very common in Barnala and nearby places like Bathinda and Sangrur. Sale and purchase of second hand tractors will take place in these markets. Tractors and farm implements are available for sale at attractive rates in these weekly markets.  Punjab’s second largest tractor mandi is in Barnala. This bazaar is all set up on Monday. The video of the market prepared for February 19 can be seen in this blog .

Taking account of these evidences it is clear that the incident in the video is an argument over the sale of a tractor at Barnala tractor market in Punjab. It has no link to ongoing farmers’ protest.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. The video of bargaining for the tractor was being faked and circulated as a dispute after farmers were paid to participate in the strike.