New Delhi: A video showing a person dressed in saffron, standing on top of a bulldozer and waving to a huge crowd is being shared on social media platforms. Alongside, another person is visible wearing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scarf around their neck, waving at the crowd.
Those sharing the video have claimed that it shows Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who campaigned in such a manner at a rally in Maharashtra.
One user wrote, “Bulldozer has become associated with his identity and living up to people’s trust is Yogiji’s identity (sic)”.
Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.
This claim is false.
The video is from BJP candidate Harish Pimple’s rally in Murtizapur in Akola, Maharashtra, from 6 November.
The candidate and a reporter confirmed to The Quint that a party worker had dressed in saffron like Adityanath and stood on the bulldozer at the rally.
We divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.
We came across a post on X by a user stating, “One of his fans in a getup exactly like Yogi rode on a bulldozer.”
A report by ABP Majha stated that a “duplicate” of Adityanath had campaigned for the BJP candidate in Akola.
We, then, contacted a reporter from the state who told us that the visual was from Harish Pimple’s rally in Murtizapur. He added that a lookalike of UP CM was present at the occasion.
The Quint also spoke to Pimple who confirmed to us that the visual was from his rally where a party worker named Shambhu Dhule dressed like Adityanath.
The UP CM had campaigned for Pimple in his constituency on 6 November. The candidate uploaded visuals of the same on his X page, but there are no reports stating Adityanath had stood up on a bulldozer to support any candidate in Maharashtra.
आज दिनांक: ०६/११/२०२४ रोजी माझ्या प्रचारार्थ हिंदू योध्दा मुख्यमंत्री उत्तरप्रदेश श्री. योगी आदित्यनाथजी जी यांची महाविराट सभा मुर्तिजापूर येथे पार पडली.#vidhansabha32 #yogiadityanath #mlaharishpimple #vidhansabha32sathi #mazijavabdarividhansabha32 #jayshreeram pic.twitter.com/wkse1M6pgV
— Harish pimple (@HarishPimpleMLA) November 6, 2024
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the CM addressed public meetings for Mahayuti Alliance (BJP, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party—Ajit Pawar faction) candidates in Washim, Amravati and Akola.
This story was originally published by The Quint as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.
Also read: Fact Check: Social media posts on credentials of ministers are from 2021, not Modi 3.0