India's ongoing farmers' protest has grabbed global attention, Canada in particular, which has been vocal about the issue. Canada PM Justin Trudeau expressed his support for the farmers protesting against the new agricultural bill and then again reaffirmed his stance, irking India and many Indians at large. But social media is abuzz with one particular photo of a Sikh man disrespecting the Indian national flag, which has been met with fury and criticism.
The claim
In the photo, a Sikh men are seen stepping on the Indian national flag while another Sikh man is seen holding a shoe over the Indian flag as a gesture of huge disrespect. The photo has been widely shared across all social media platforms, drawing huge criticism towards the extent of farmers' protest in the country.
"To insult our national flag is the farmers' protest, we damn such farmers' protest," one user wrote as a caption to the image while many others shared similar sentiments.
Fact-check
IBTimes ran a fact-check on the image using Google reverse image search, which brings up a tweet from August 2019. Other images also show Sikh men burning the Indian flag as a part of a protest against the Indian government. The original image carries a logo of Dal Khalsa UK and has a stamp date of August 15 2013. These details have been cropped out of the image while being shared on social media.
The image was taken outside the Indian High Commission in Central London as the pro-Khalistan group was protesting "against Indian Oppression and Occupation. The person in the image is identified as Manmohan Singh Khalsa, the founder of the group who passed away in 2017.
The image is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers' protest in India.
