A cropped video of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is being shared on social media with the misleading claim that he credited Mohammad Ali Jinnah alone with securing India’s independence.
BOOM found that the viral video is cropped from a speech delivered by Yadav in October 2021, in which he referred to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali Jinnah while discussing their contributions to India’s independence.
The Claim:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted the video on its official X handle with the caption, “Did Jinnah bring freedom?” The post also accused Akhilesh Yadav of promoting a narrative to appease his 'vote bank'.
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The same video was also posted with the misleading claim by former BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya in 2021.
What We Found:
1) Viral video cropped from Akhilesh Yadav’s 2021 speech
BOOM found that the original speech was delivered by Yadav on October 31, 2021, during an event commemorating the 146th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
In his 2021 speech Yadav mentions not only Mohammad Ali Jinnah but also Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru while discussing their contribution to India’s independence.
The viral video omits the portion in which Yadav names Patel, Gandhi and Nehru, to misleadingly claim that he was referring only to Jinnah.
From 9.49 minutes, Yadav is heard saying in Hindi, "Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took decisions based on his understanding of the ground realities, which earned him the title of ‘Iron Man’. Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah all studied at the same institution to become barristers. They studied at the same institution, became barristers and fought for the country’s independence. They did not back down from any struggle. If anyone imposed restrictions on a particular ideology [referring to the RSS], it was Sardar Patel.”