No, Akhilesh Yadav Didn't Promise 2,000 New Mosques in UP if SP Comes to Power

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav did not make any promises regarding mosques and Muslims.

No such statements have been issued by SP or Akhilesh Yadav.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A viral image which claims to show certain promises made by the Samajwadi Party is being shared to claim that the party has made a slew of promises for minority appeasement.

According to the image, Akhilesh Yadav has purportedly promised 2,000 new mosques in Uttar Pradesh, a sum of Rs 1,000 crore for the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and 30 percent reservations for Muslims.

The claim comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

However, the viral image is not true. The Samajwadi party did not share any such graphic, nor did SP leader Akhilesh Yadav make any such promises.

CLAIM

The viral image carries text in Hindi, that states that in western UP and the Purvanchal region, 2,000 new mosques will be built, Rs 1,000 crore will be allotted for the construction of the new Babri Masjid and Ayodhya's name will be changed. It also comments on reservation and the controversial 'love jihad' law.

These statements are being shared as Yadav's promises to Uttar Pradesh's Muslims.

An archive of this post can be accessed here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

Archived posts of more claims on social media platforms can be seen here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

First, we looked for news reports to check whether any Samajwadi Party representative or Akhilesh Yadav had made any such statements or promises, but did not find any.

Then, we carefully checked the party's verified social media accounts, including that of party leader Akhilesh, to see whether such a graphic had been shared by any of the accounts.

While we didn't see the same graphic shared from any of these accounts, we came across graphics with similar templates being shared.

(Note: Swipe right to view both images.)

The party uses a similar template for its graphics.

The party uses a similar template for its graphics.

We then got in touch with National Secretary of Samajwadi Chatra Sabha (SP's student wing) Arun Kumar, who said that Yadav had made no such campaign promise.

Further, we also noticed that Yadav's photograph on the viral image matched the one used on his verified Twitter account.

The claim uses Yadav's Twitter profile photo.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

The Quint has previously debunked statements similar to ones seen in the graphic. You can read our fact-check here.

Clearly, a made-up graphic was falsely shared by social media users as SP's campaign promises to Uttar Pradesh's Muslim voters.

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