An old image of Akhilesh Yadav and his wife paying respect to Mulayam Singh Yadav goes viral again linking to Mukhtar Ansari

The image was taken in November 2022 when Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav visited Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave.

The political atmosphere across the country has been heating up recently over the upcoming general elections. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav paid a visit to the family of deceased mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari at his ancestral home in Ghazipur last day and expressed his condolences. Mr. Yadav praised the Ansari family for their contributions to India’s liberation movement and questioned the circumstances surrounding the former five-time MLA’s death, expressing hope that the truth would be revealed and the family would receive justice. Following this BJP complained to the Election Commission (EC) against Akhilesh Yadav over these remarks.

In this scenario, an image of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav at a grave has gone viral on social media with the claim that they were seen paying their respects to the gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. Mukhtar Ansari was laid to rest in Ghazipur amid tight security on 30 March. Ansari died in a hospital at Banda, Uttar Pradesh on 28 March. 

Facebook Post |Archive link

Fact Check- 

A reverse image search of the viral image led us to a report from The Morung Express, published on 14 November, 2022 carrying the viral image. As per the report, the couple paying their tributes to the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s father and former chief of the Samajwadi Party. The couple visited the late politician’s resting place before Dimple Yadav’s filing her nomination for the Mainpuri assembly by-election. 

Archive link

In further search, we came across the same image on Dimple Yadav’s Twitter account.  She shared the viral image confirming the visit to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s memorial site. 

Archive link

Mainpuri seat got vacated after Mulayam Singh passed away on 10 October 2022 at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram. Many media outlets reported about Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav’s visit to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave at that time. So it is clear that an old picture is being shared with a false claim. 

We debunked the same image when it went viral in March this year, with false claims that Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav visited the tomb of politician-gangster Atiq Ahmed.

Is Akhilesh Yadav and his wife paying respects at gangster Atiq Ahmed’s grave? – Know the truth

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral image to be False. The image was taken in November 2022 when Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav visited Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave. An old image goes viral again linking to Mukhtar Ansari.