Fact Check: Did Dhoni visit Gurudwara amid farmers’ protests?
Many Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh farmers marched towards Delhi on February 13, 2024. They were demonstrated to demand the guarantee of Minimum Support Price for their crops.
In the above context, an image of former cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni went viral with a caption claiming that he went to Gurudwara during the protest to show his support to the farmers.
A social media user shared the image with a caption that read, “Dhoni skips Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha and instead visits Gurudwara. Through this gesture, he is showing support towards the farmer's protest that has caused an unrest. Shame on Dhoni.”
Fact Check
SouthCheck found the claim to be false. We found that the viral image is old and unrelated to farmers’ protests.
We found Gurpreet Singh Anand, the President of Khalsa Jatha, the oldest Gurudwara in London, had uploaded the same image on February 26, 2024. However, many social media users wrote that the viral post was old and had no relation to the farmers' protest.
Taking a hint, we searched for Dhoni on Anand’s account and found another image of Dhoni and Anand sitting on the floor. The attire worn by both in this image was the same as the one they wore in the viral image. This image was shared on October 1, 2022.
We further found that Anand had uploaded the same image on his Instagram account on July 7, 2022, with a caption that read, “Bowled over with the legendary @mahi7781.”
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral image is old and unrelated to farmers’ protest.
