2-year-old video of Akhilesh Yadav’s roadshow in UP is shared as a recent one in MP
Claim
Today the Rath Yatra of respected Shri Akhilesh Yadav ji in Niwari, Madhya Pradesh. Crowds gathered to get a glimpse of their leader.
Rating
Explanation
As the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election polling is almost about to begin on 17th November 2023, several supporters and office bearers of the Samajwadi Party (SP) are sharing a video on social media with claims that Akhilesh Yadav’s roadshow in Madhya Pradesh drew in huge crowds. In MP, Congress and BJP are the major contenders fighting head-to-head with major opinion polls citing the win of either one of these two parties. Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party which was in the opposition alliance against the BJP which was titled with an acronym INDIA has all but left the alliance. The SP leader reportedly had issues with the Congress party in seat sharing and had openly criticized it. He had renewed his calls for a PDA alliance stating that he would fight 2024 Lok Sabha polls in a third front. After the supposed split, Samajwadi Party had been claiming big gains in Madhya Pradesh. At this juncture, this video is spread by many SP supporters which can be seen here, here, here, here and here.
What is the truth?
After a search using the keyframes of the video along with a keyword search, we found a video live streamed by Navbharat Times on YouTube.
In the 19th minute of the video, we are able to see a poster along with a white object in the background, which matches the viral video, thus confirming that the videos were taken on the same day.
The video was live streamed on YouTube by Navbharat Times on 17th November 2021 exactly two years before the polling date during Madhya Pradesh Elections 2023. From the caption we are able to find out that the video was taken during Akhilesh Yadav’s “Vijay Yatra” from Ghazipur to Lucknow for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections conducted on 2022. The location can be confirmed by the news report by Times of India on 18 November 2021 which reports that the rally began on 17th November from Ghazipur.
Conclusion
A video taken during an election rally by Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh in 2021 is shared with false claims that it was taken recently in Madhya Pradesh election rallies by several supporters of the Samajwadi Party.
