Sikhs sloganeering against Indian army? No; viral video is unrelated to India-Pakistan conflict
A video of a group of people chanting slogans, allegedly against the Indian army, is viral. In the video, the people, some of whom wear turbans and appear to be Sikhs, can be heard using the word ‘Murdabad’ while sloganeering.
The clip has emerged amid the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. Scores of unverified visuals such as this one have been doing the rounds and are being linked to the geo-political crisis, which was triggered by a terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on April 22. A fortnight after the incident, Indian defence forces launched military strikes targeting terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Shortly after, Pakistan retaliated with heavy mortar shelling in forward villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch and Rajouri areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The LoC is an over 700-km de facto military border separating the two countries. In India, at least 16 people were killed in firing by the neighbouring country.
The video of ‘Sikhs chanting slogans against the Indian army’ started doing the rounds on May 10. X user @zarrar_11PK shared the video. Since the account has been withheld in India, we have added a screenshot below. At the time of writing this, the post had garnered over 330,000 views. (Archive)
Another verified user, @VoPublic, also shared the video with the claim that Sikhs had turned against the army. (Archive)
The video was shared by several others on X with similar claims. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Click to view slideshow.
The video was viral on Facebook as well.
Fact Check
A reverse image search of key frames from the video led us to the same video uploaded by Instagram user @billa_hair_studio on April 26, 2025. The account’s bio says it is based in Akhara village in Jagraon, Ludhiana, Punjab. In the video, some demonstrators can be heard saying using the word “Murdabad”. While there was no caption with the video, the comments on the post hinted at a protest against a gas factory.
In another video, uploaded by the same account on the same day, the demonstrators could be seen clashing with the police.
Taking cue from these, we searched with relevant keywords and found a video by local news outlet, PTC News, from April 26 in which the same demonstrations could be seen. We were able to ascertain that the PTC News clips were of the same demonstration as the ones uploaded by the Instagram user, which is now viral.
In the video, it was clear that the demonstrators were chanting ‘Punjab Sarkar Murdabad‘ and ‘Bhagwant Mann Murdabad‘ (Down with the Punjab government, Bhagwant Mann). Mann is the current chief minister of Punjab.
PTC News’ report said that the villagers of Akhara, Jagraon, were protesting against the construction of a biogas plant in the area and were hit by the police with sticks. We also found reports by Hindustan Times and The Tribune on this. According to the HT report, the police had fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to disperse the protesters, including women and children. Several demonstrators had been detained. “The people of the village are together and the factory will not be allowed to be built under any circumstances. “Today, the police have uprooted the tents erected by the villagers… The protest has been going on for the last one year…There is a lot of anger among the people against the Punjab government,” protesting villagers told The Tribune.
As it stands, a clip from a protest against a biogas plant in Punjab’s Jagraon from April 26 was circulated by social media users with false claims that it showed Sikhs raising slogans against the Indian army. They were sloganeering against the Punjab government and the state chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The clip has no connection to the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict.
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