As the election process begun in Uttar Pradesh, a video of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati started doing rounds on social media platforms with a claim that she has come out in support of BJP amid assembly elections in UP.
A Facebook user shared the video with a caption in Hindi that roughly translates to, “Mayawati’s open message to her votes. SP has to be defeated, even if one has to vote for BJP.”
(Original: मायावती जी का अपने वोटरों को खुला सन्देश। सपा को हराना है उसके लिए चाहे भाजपा को ही वोट क्यों न देना पड़े।)
The video is also doing rounds on Twitter with the same claim.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral video and found it to be shared with a false claim.
At the beginning of the video, one can see the BBC logo. Taking a hint from this and performing relevant keyword searches, we found the video report carried in a BBC article on November 2, 2020.
According to the report, in October 2020, ahead of the elections for 12 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats scheduled for January 28, 2021, Mayawati made a statement that her party would vote for any other political outfit, including BJP, to ensure Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party’s defeat.
News agency ANI also tweeted a short clip of her statement on October 29, 2020.
Several other media outlets also reported her statement.
However, for ongoing assembly elections, Mayawati has not made any such statement about her party supporting BJP. Contrary to the viral claim, during a BSP election rally in Saharanpur on February 5, 2022, Mayawati criticized both SP and BJP for their “anti-Dalit politics” and asked people to support the BSP and reject other parties.
Therefore, it can be concluded that an old video of Mayawati is being shared with misleading claims amid Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
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