Fact Check: Video Of People Showering Flowers And Garlands On Akhilesh Yadav Shared With False Claim; Details Inside
PTI debunked a viral video claiming shoes were hurled at Akhilesh Yadav, clarifying it showed him receiving flower garlands.
Published : March 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM IST
New Delhi: A video purportedly showing Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav being mistreated by the public was recently shared on social media. Users claimed that people threw shoes and slippers at him after he allegedly stated, during a meeting in Kannauj, that he would lock the Ram Temple in Ayodhya if his party were elected to power.
However, the PTI Fact Check Desk investigated the claim and found it false. The video dates back to the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign when Akhilesh Yadav, then contesting from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, held a roadshow. Additionally, the claim that he was pelted with shoes and slippers was false, as a closer analysis of the video showed that flower garlands were being flung toward him, not footwear.
Furthermore, the investigation found no authentic reports supporting the claim that Akhilesh Yadav had stated he would lock the Ram Temple if elected to power. The statement attributed to him was also found to be false.
Claim
An X user named 'Mallikarjuna N1986' shared a video on March 10 showing the public's mistreatment of Akhilesh Yadav. The video allegedly showed people hurling shoes and slippers at Akhilesh Yadav after he, during a meeting in Kannauj, asserted that he would lock Ram's temple in Ayodhya if his party were elected to power.
"In a meeting in UP, Akhilesh Yadav said that if elected to power, he would lock the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The people attending the meeting gave him the proper treatment with their footwear," the user shared the video with the caption.
Here is the link and archive link to the report.
Investigation
The Desk ran the viral video through the InVid tool and extracted multiple keyframes. After running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found multiple users had shared the same video with similar claims. Two such posts can be found here and here, with their archived versions available here and here respectively.
In the next part of the investigation, taking cues from the above-generated inputs, the Desk conducted multiple keyword searches on Google to find any incidents suggesting Akhilesh Yadav was mistreated by the public and any statement he made regarding the Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, the search results did not lead to any media reports confirming these claims. Had the incident been real, news portals and channels would have covered it extensively.
Later, in the subsequent part of the investigation, the Desk ran the keyframes (generated above) of the viral video through Google Lens and came across a video posted by News 24 on its X handle.
The handle posted the same video seen in the viral post on May 10, 2024. However, a closer analysis revealed that the objects flung toward Akhilesh Yadav were actually flower garlands, as seen at different timestamps in the video.
Here is the link to the video along with a screenshot.
Below is a comparison image indicating the objects flung toward Akhilesh Yadav were flower garlands.
Further, taking cues from the above-generated inputs, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a video posted by the Samajwadi Party’s official YouTube channel on April 27, 2024. In this video, the woman who appears beside Akhilesh Yadav in the viral video can be seen with him. Still, the description stated that the video was from Akhilesh Yadav's roadshow in Rasulabad, which falls under the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. Further, no reports suggesting any misoccurrence during Akhilesh Yadav's roadshow had then been reported.
Below is the link to the video, along with a screenshot.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that a video of supporters throwing garlands toward Akhilesh Yadav was shared on social media with false claims.
CLAIM People hurled shoes and slippers at Akhilesh Yadav after he said he would close the Ram temple in Ayodhya if he was voted to power. FACT The viral video shows Akhilesh Yadav being greeted by the crowd with flower garlands at a roadshow he held in Kannauj during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign. |
CONCLUSION
Several social media users shared a video claiming that it showed people hurling shoes and slippers at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav after he said he would close the Ram temple in Ayodhya if voted to power. In its investigation, the Desk found that a video of Yadav’s supporters throwing garlands toward him was shared with a false claim on social media. Additionally, the purported statement by Akhilesh Yadav suggesting he would lock the Ram temple in Ayodhya if elected to power was also false, as no authentic report backing the claim was found.
(Note: This story was first published by PTI and is republished by ETV Bharat as part of Shakti Collective.)
