Edited Photo of Yogi Adityanath & Ambani Shared With False Claim Around UP Polls

We found that two old images of Mukesh Ambani and Yogi Adityanath were altered to create the viral photo.

Fact-Check | Two old images of Reliance's Mukesh Ambani and UP CM Yogi Adityanath were altered to create the viral photo.

(Photo: The Quint)

A picture of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Reliance Chairperson and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani is going viral on social media with a claim that "the industrialist had assured his support to the UP CM for the upcoming elections".

However, we found that the image was an altered photo using old and unrelated photographs of Ambani and Adityanath.

CLAIM

The photograph that is being shared shows Adityanath presenting Ambani a picture of the design of the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya.

One Twitter user (@INC_Congress_UP) said, "Ambani Ne Chunaav ke Lie Yogi ko Apana Samarthan Sunishchit Kiya."

[Translation: Ambani has assured his support to Yogi for the elections.]

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Photo: Twitter/Screenshot)

Other twitter users also shared the same edited image with different captions, archives of which can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a reverse image search of the viral photo and could not find any picture resembling it. We also did a keyword search for Mukesh Ambani, Yogi Adityanath, and Ram mandir, but could not find that image or any news report of the duo together.

We then conducted a reverse image search after cropping the two people in the photograph. While going through the search results, we found the original photos of both Ambani and Adityanath that were altered to create the viral image.

Both the images were flipped, cropped and put together to create the viral image.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

We found Adityanath's photo on his official Twitter handle, posted on 8 January 2018. In the tweet, the UP CM was seen presenting a piece of cloth and the logo of Kumbh to Shri Gyanendra Veer Vikram Shah, the former King of Nepal.

Comparison of the original photo with the viral post. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The original photograph of Ambani is from 16 September 2016 when he attended the convocation ceremony of Pandit Deendayal Energy University - PDEU (Formerly PDPU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Photos of the event published on Gujarat-based news channel DeshGujarat showed Ambani presenting Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani a memento.

Comparison of the original photo with the viral post.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

We could not find the exact photo frame showing the proposed Ram Temple in Ayodhya but we found similar photos being sold on Amazon India's website. The photo, however, didn't have the BJP symbol on the top left corner as seen in the viral image.

An archive of this can be befound here. 

(Photo: Screenshot/Amazon)

Evidently, photographs of Ambani and Adityanath were altered to claim that Ambani was supporting Yogi for the UP elections in 2022.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)