This video of BSP supremo Mayawati extending support to BJP is related to 2020 UP MLC elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 9, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati declaring her support to BJP for the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. In the video, Mayawati said that her party will even for BJP to defeat the Samajwadi Party in the elections. In the wake of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections in March 2022, this post is being widely on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: BSP leader Mayawati declared her party support’s to BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections in March 2022.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows Mayawati’s old press conference held in October 2020. In the press meet, Mayawati said that her party will vote for BJP and all other opposition parties to defeat Samajwadi Party’s second candidate in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Elections. After a few days of her announcement, Mayawati took a U-turn and said that she would rather retire from politics than align with the BJP. Recently, amid the Uttar Pradesh Election campaign, Mayawati accused BJP of ‘Anti-Dalit’ policies. The video shared in the post is old and not related to the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched to check whether BSP leader Mayawati had made any such statement recently in the wake of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections, we could not find a single news article reporting this information. If Mayawati had made any such statement, several news agencies would have published articles reporting that news.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, a video with similar visuals was tweeted by the ‘ANI’ news agency on 29 October 2020. ‘ANI’ through that tweet reported that Mayawati in a press meet announced that her party will vote for BJP or any party’s candidate in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Elections to defeat Samajwadi Party’s second candidate.
#WATCH BSP Chief Mayawati says that her party will vote for BJP or any party's candidate in future UP MLC elections, to defeat Samajwadi Party's second candidate.
"Any party candidate, who'll be dominant over SP's 2nd candidate, will get all BSP MLAs' vote for sure," she said. pic.twitter.com/ki4W6ZAwgE
Reporting the Mayawati’s statement, several news websites published articles in October 2020. They can be seen here, here, and here. But a few days after this statement, Mayawati took U-turn and said that she would rather retire from politics than align with the BJP.
As part of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, Mayawati slammed both the BJP and Samajwadi party in several of her public rallies. Recently, on 04 February 2022, Mayawati accused BJP of implementing ‘Anti-Dalit’ policies.
Earlier, when a 2006 video of Mayawati declaring her support to BJP in the Uttar Pradesh local body elections was shared as a recent video on social media, FACTLY published a fact-check article debunking it.
To sum it up, an old video related to the MLC elections in UP was shared as the recent visuals of Mayawati declaring her Party’s support to BJP for the upcoming 2022 UP Assembly Elections.