Fake Quote Claims Akhilesh Yadav Promised To Build 2000 Mosques

A quote claiming Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has promised 2000 new mosques, Rs 1000 crores for Babri Masjid's construction in Ayodhya, and 30 per cent reservations for Muslims in Uttar Pradesh if his party is voted to power is fake.

BOOM spoke to Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Singh (kaka) who said that the graphic circulating is fake and confirmed that the party has not put out any such list of promises as being claimed. We also did not find any such graphic attributed to Yadav put out by the Samajwadi Party's official handles.

The assembly election is going to be held in Uttar Pradesh in 7 phases from February 10, 2022, till March 7, 2022, with the results to be declared on March 10, 2022. Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party is considered the front runner among the opposition parties in the state which are eying to defeat the ruling BJP government.

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The text on the graphic when translated reads, "2000 new mosques will be built in western UP and Purvanchal, 1000 crores will be given for Babri Masjid in Ayodhya Ayodhya will be renamed, 30% reservation will be given to Muslims by reducing the reservation of Dalits and backwards, Love Jihad law will be abolished, this is my promise to Muslims: Akhilesh Yadav"

The fake quote is being shared on Twitter with the caption, "Uttar Pradesh Elections: Akhilesh Yadav: 2000 new mosques, Rs 1000 cr for Babri Masjid construction, 30% Muslim reservations!"

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(In Hindi - पश्चिमी यूपी और पूर्वांचल में 2000 नई मस्जिद बनाई जायेगी अयोध्या में बाबरी मस्जिद के लिए 1000 करोड़ रुपये दिए जायेंगे अयोध्या का नाम परिवर्तन किया जायेगा, दलितों और पिछड़ों का आरक्षण कम कर के मुसलमानों को 30% आरक्षण दिया जायेगा, लव जेहाद कानून को खत्म किया जायेगा, यह वादा है मेरा मुसलमानों से, अखिलेश यादव)

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The same graphic is also widely being shared on Facebook with the false claim.

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FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral quote being attributed to Akhilesh Yadav is fake and no such graphic has been put out by the Samajwadi Party's official handles.

We first did a relevant keyword search and did not find any such statement or promise to Muslims by Yadav reported by credible news outlets.

BOOM then reached out to Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Singh (Kaka) who told us that the viral graphic is fake and no such promises have been made by the party. "This is all fake, this is all being spread by the IT cell, like the fake and communal rumors such as ram mandir will be demolished if we come to power. We will also be filling a case against this fake graphic. This is all being done by the BJP as they are not ready to fight the election on people's issues such as rising unemployment in the state." said Singh.

"We did not put out any such poll promise mentioned in the said fake graphic, and any poll promise that we make will be in our official manifesto which will be released soon in a few days," added Singh

Additionally, we checked Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party's official handles and did not find any such statement on 2000 mosques to be built or 1000 crores to be given for the construction of the Babri Masjid.

We found similar graphics put out by the Samajwadi Party's official Twitter handle but they had a different format and the photo of Yadav is different in these official graphics.

A comparison of the viral graphic and an official party graphic shows some discrepancies like the text on the viral graphic is lighter and looks superimposed and the text looks blur. Even the tagline for the UP elections of the Samajwadi Party is on most party posters - "Akhilesh is coming" is missing on the viral graphic.