No, Akhilesh Yadav Did Not Say That He Will Change The Name Of Ayodhya If SP Wins; Viral Claim Is False

Assembly elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh in the early months of next year, i.e., 2022. All the parties have started making strategies for the upcoming elections. Social media platforms have become a hub of fake and misleading news as a lot of disinformation is being circulated to target voters. Meanwhile, a graphic of Republic Bharat is doing rounds on social media claiming that if Akhilesh Yadav comes into power, he will change the name of Ayodhya. In the viral graphics, it is written in Hindi, "ब्रेकिंग न्यूज़ 'अयोध्या का नाम बदल देंगे अखिलेश".

[English Translation: Breaking news Akhilesh will change the name of Ayodhya.]

Below it is written, "Ayodhya's name will change if SP wins." It is shared in such a way that Akhilesh Yadav has talked about changing the name of Ayodhya.

While sharing this graphic, a Twitter user wrote a caption in Hindi that reads, "इसी बात का डर था ! नाम तो जाने दो मित्रों, ये बाबरी बनवाएंगे ..रामलला का मंदिर बनने नही देंगे."

[English Translation: That's what I was afraid of! Let the name be known, friends, they will get Babri built... they will not allow Ram Lalla's temple to be built.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim. It can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.

Claim:

Akhilesh Yadav said that he is going to change the name of Ayodhya if he wins the upcoming UP election.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. Current Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath gave the actual statement.

In the viral graphic, we can see the logo of Republic Bharat. Taking this as a hint, we began our investigation by searching this graphic on Republic Bharat videos archives. With the help of keyword search, we found the still of the viral graphic in a video report of Republic Bharat dated 27 November 2021. The title of the video report reads in Hindi, "Hindi News: Akhilesh Yadav पर Yogi का हमला, बोले- 'अखिलेश आए तो Ayodhya का नाम बदलेंगे."

[English Translation: Hindi News: Yogi's attack on Akhilesh Yadav, said, "Akhilesh will change the name of Ayodhya if he comes in power."]

At the 16 second timestamp of the video report, we can see the same graphic as viral on social media. On watching the video carefully, we found that UP CM Yogi Adityanath actually gave this statement. In the video, the anchor is seen speaking that Yogi Adityanath, while making a big attack on Akhilesh Yadav, said that if Akhilesh comes to power, he will change the name of Ayodhya and Prayagraj. The video report contains the exclusive interview of Yogi Adityanath. In this interview, he can be heard saying, "Shri Akhilesh and Shri Owaisi, they speak the same language. Owaisi said they would rename Ayodhya and Akhilesh Yadav says the same thing. If SP comes to power, they will change the name of Ayodhya. They will change the name of Prayagraj." From 2 minutes 29 seconds to 2 minutes 56 seconds, one can see this statement of Yogi Adityanath.

We also searched for media reports to know whether Akhilesh Yadav has given any statement related to changing the name of Ayodhya. However, we could not find any. We also checked the official Twitter handle of Akhilesh Yadav to know the truth behind the viral claim, we could not find any tweet related to the viral claim.

It is evident from our investigation that Akhilesh Yadav has not talked about changing the name of Ayodhya. It was actually Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath who gave this statement while talking to Republic Bharat. Hence, the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Did Akhilesh Yadav Insult His Father During SP Meet? No, Old Video Viral With False Claim