No, Akhilesh Yadav Didn't Say He Will Change the Name of Ayodhya

The viral screenshot is shared without context, and misattributes Yogi Adityanath's statement to Akhilesh Yadav.

A viral screenshot of a news bulletin on Hindi news channel Republic Bharat which reads "अयोध्या का नाम बदल देंगे अखिलेश “ (Akhilesh will change the name of Ayodhya) is being shared widely on social media.

The screenshot is being shared in the backdrop of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state with several users asking people to vote against Samajwadi Party (SP).

However, we found that the statement was actually made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in an exclusive hour-long interview with Republic Bharat.

Speaking about AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Yadav together, Adityanath stated that if either of these leaders form the state’s government in the upcoming elections in 2022, they would change names of places such as Ayodhya and Prayagraj.

CLAIM

The viral screenshot of a Republic Bharat news bulletin is being shared across social media, which reads –

"अयोध्या का नाम बदल देंगे अखिलेश"

[Translation: Akhilesh will change Ayodhya's name.]

Social media users have attributed the claim to SP leader Akhilesh Yadav.

This post on Facebook group ‘I Support Raja Singh’ was shared nearly 650 times at the time of writing this article.

More claims across social media can be seen here, here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We looked up the quote along with the name of the TV channel in the screenshot and came across a report published by Republic World on 27 November. The report noted that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made the statement.

The report was based on an exclusive interview with Adityanath where the chief minister discussed election strategies.

It quoted him as saying, “Both Akhilesh Yadav and Owaisi have the same language, they both say that if they come to power in UP they will change the names of Ayodhya and Prayagraj."

We looked for the bulletin’s video on the channel’s verified outlets . On its YouTube channel, we found an hour-long exclusive interview with UP CM Adityanath.

At around the 24:45 minutes mark Adityanath made the same remark.

Additionally, in another video that discussed the highlights of Adityanath’s interview with the channel, we found a similar frame as the one in the viral screenshot.

The same statement is discussed in another video uploaded to Republic Bharat’s verified YouTube channel which attributes it to Yogi Adityanath.

We also looked for news reports to see if Yadav had made any such statement. And the closest statement that we found was Yadav's dig at the BJP government for changing the names of various places and cities.

But there was no direct statement where he said that his government would change the name of Ayodhya. Clearly, a statement made by UP CM Adityanath has been shared to claim that SP leader Akhilesh Yadav has vowed to change the name of Ayodhya.

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