An image of Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, has gone viral on social media. In the image, we can see ink stains over Tikait’s face and bust.
The image is shared with a caption suggesting that it is of a recent event in Karnataka where ink was thrown at Rakesh Tikait under the Congress regime.
A social media user shared the image and wrote, “During an event in Karnataka, black ink was thrown at farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh. Now, democracy is apparently not in danger because the state has a Congress government. If the BJP had been in power, people would have been crying that democracy was under threat by now.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral image is from 2022. The incident happened when someone barged into a press conference in Bengaluru and threw ink at Rakesh Tikait. However, it happened during the BJP regime in the state and not Congress.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same image was shared by The News Minute on June 1, 2022.
The report associated with the image suggests farmer organisations in Karnataka demanded Z-category security for farmer leader Rakesh Tikait after he was attacked during a press conference in Bengaluru. A man allegedly linked to a pro-Kannada group threw black ink at Tikait while he was addressing the media on a contentious issue. Farmer groups condemned the attack, called it a threat to democratic dissent, and urged authorities to take strict action against those responsible and ensure Tikait’s safety.
The incident was also reported by The Hindustan Times on May 31, 2022.
The report suggests that Tikait held the local police responsible for the attack and alleged that it was done on him was in connivance with the BJP-led state government. During the time of the incident, the Karnataka Home Minister was Araga Jnanendra, who dismissed the allegations that those who targeted Tikait were BJP leaders.
The incident was also reported by News 18 Hindi.
We further found that the Indian National Congress came to power in Karnataka after winning the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. Voting was held on May 10, 2023, and the results were declared on May 13, 2023. Congress won 135 out of 224 seats, comfortably crossing the majority mark of 113 seats and defeating the incumbent BJP government.
