The Rampur by-elections took place on December 5, 2022, and BJP emerged victorious on December 8, 2022. Rampur constituency fell vacant after the disqualification of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. Khan was sentenced to three years in jail in October 2022 by a court that held him guilty of hate speech.
Khan held a rally in Rampur to campaign for the by-elections. He was joined by the entire SP clan to show support. Against this backdrop, a viral video showing Azam Khan praising the UP Police and its officials is doing the rounds on social media. Users have shared the video, claiming that it is because of Yogi Adityanath that Khan is praising the police.
A Facebook user posted the viral video with a caption: योगी जी का जादू एसपी साब जिंदाबाद पुलिस के डंडे जिंदाबाद…. आज़म खान (English translation: Yogi ji’s magic SP Saab Zindabad Long live the police poles….Azam Khan)
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral video, and found it to be misleading.
Running a Reverse Image Search of the viral clip, we identified a live-stream Youtube video, dated December 2 and titled: Azam Khan Viral Speech: Rampur में बोले Azam- पुलिस वालों जिंदाबाद..पुलिस का डंडा जिंदाबाद । TV9UPUK, on the official channel of TV9 Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand.
We can see that at 11:50 Khan starts mocking the UP Police when the sound of Azaan comes from a nearby Mosque during his speech. He satirically asks the SP to look into the matter and get the loudspeaker removed from the mosque, or else it would become a huge deal for the state. At 12:35, we can see Khan raise slogans of Inquilaab Zindabaad, Akhilesh Yadav Zindabad, Chandrasekhar Azad Zindabad, Garib Awaam Zindabad, Desh Ke Jawan Zindabad. He also says: SP saheb zindabad, CO saheb zindabad, police walon zindabad, tumhare dande zindabad (as it is in the viral video).
Another video in a tweet, published by the official handle of TV9 Uttar Pradesh, having a longer version, shows him of raising slogans for Akhilesh Yadav, Chandrashekhar Azaad, the Indian army, etc., UP police, and everyone starts laughing.
Another news report, dated December 2, 2022 and titled: Rampur By-Election: रामपुर में आज़म खान ने लगाया नारा- अखिलेश यादव जिंदाबाद..पुलिस का डंडा जिंदाबाद, लोग लेने लगे मजे, published on Jansatta — an Indian media house, too, corroborates the claim made by TV9 Uttar Pradesh. It informs that leaders around him started laughing when he raised slogans for UP Police.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral video, claiming Azam Khan started praising the UP Police because of Yogi Adityanath, is misleading.
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