Viral Post Misrepresents 2022 Ink Attack on Farmer Leader Rakesh Tikait as Recent Incident

A social media post falsely claiming a recent ink attack on Indian Farmers Union (Tikait) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait in Karnataka has gone viral, triggering renewed political narratives and misinformation. The claim suggests that Tikait and farmer leader Yudhvir Singh were attacked with black ink during a programme in Karnataka and attempts to link the incident to current political developments.

The post, shared on June 14, 2026, by a Facebook user identified as Manish Singh, alleges that during an event in Karnataka, black ink was thrown at Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh. The post further adds a politically charged remark, attempting to contrast governance under the Congress party with the Bharatiya Janata Party, implying that law and order responses would differ based on the ruling party. The content quickly circulated across social media platforms, being presented as a recent incident.

However, fact-check investigations confirm that the claim is misleading and based on an old incident from May 2022. The original event took place at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru, Karnataka, during a press conference where Rakesh Tikait was addressing the media. During the event, an individual attacked him with a microphone, while another person threw black ink at him, escalating tensions at the venue.

The authentic video of the incident was first uploaded on May 30, 2022, on the Facebook account of Arjun Gupta, confirming that the footage is not recent. Additional verification from NDTV’s YouTube channel, which published a report on the same date, showed the incident from a different angle and confirmed that Tikait was attacked during a press briefing in Bengaluru.

Further verification from a report published by Times of India on February 1, 2023, revealed that police arrested three individuals in connection with the 2022 Bengaluru incident. The arrested individuals were identified as Bharat Shetty, Shivkumar, and Pradeep Nayak. The report also noted that Shivkumar filed a complaint, leading to a case being registered involving attacks on Tikait and others during the event.

Local journalist Yasir Khan confirmed during earlier verification efforts that the incident occurred in 2022 at Gandhi Bhavan while Tikait was addressing the media, reinforcing that the viral claim is not connected to any recent event.

At the time of the 2022 incident, Karnataka was governed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who held office from July 27, 2021, to May 20, 2023. The state transitioned to a Congress-led government after May 20, 2023.

The viral narrative has also been linked to broader misinformation trends surrounding Rakesh Tikait, who remains a prominent farmer leader known for his participation in nationwide farmer movements. According to media reports, he was detained in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in March 2026, an incident that later sparked protests across western Uttar Pradesh.

A review of the social media profile behind the viral post indicates that the user, Manish Singh, is based in Lucknow and has over ten thousand followers, suggesting significant reach for the misleading content.

The investigation conclusively establishes that the viral post repackages a 2022 incident as a current event, contributing to the spread of false and politically framed misinformation online.