Claim:
A video showing Samajwadi Party National President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav meeting PM Modi is widely shared across social media platforms (here, & here). The accompanying claim suggests that Akhilesh Yadav recently met PM Modi after sensing the 2024 Lok Sabha results. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
The archived version of these posts can be found here & here.
Investigation:
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This did not yield any credible reports about Akhilesh Yadav meeting PM Modi in recent times.
During this search, we found a video featuring similar visuals, which was uploaded on PM Modi’s official YouTube channel on 13 June 2014, titled: “Shri Narendra Modi meets UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.” Akhilesh Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from March 2012 to March 2017.
We also found a photo of this meeting uploaded on the official Facebook account of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on 12 June 2014, with the caption: “Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Akhilesh Yadav called on the PM at 7, Race Course Road.” Additionally, the Official Website of PMO had shared a photo of this meeting, which is similar to the visuals seen in the viral video on 12 June 2014. According to the information provided on the PMO website, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, met with PM Modi at 7, Race Course Road, as a courtesy call. Hence, it is evident that this viral video of Akhilesh Yadav meeting PM Modi is not recent and dates back to 2014.
Additional news reports regarding this meeting between Akhilesh Yadav and PM Modi can be found here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: An old video of Akhilesh Yadav meeting PM Modi is being shared as a recent one in the context of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Viral claims are misleading.
(This fact check article was originally published by Factly and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.)
