Edited Yogi Adityanath speech used to claim Hindu hardliner launched Indian leadership bid

Published on February 5, 2026 at 10:22
2 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

Old footage of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigning for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resurfaced in posts falsely claiming it shows him launching a bid to become India's leader. The video was edited to make it appear as if Hindu hardliner Adityanath was saying he would bring Pakistan-administered Kashmir under Indian control within six months of becoming prime minister, when he was in fact talking about what would happen if Modi were re-elected for a third term.

The video, viewed more than 115,000 times since it was shared on Facebook on January 29, 2026, appears to show firebrand Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath telling a crowd in Hindi: "Make me the prime minister, and within six months you will see that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will also become part of India."

Adityanath is chief minister of India's largest state of Uttar Pradesh and viewed by many as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's potential successor.

The idea of bringing Pakistan-administered Kashmir under Indian control has been repeatedly floated by leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (archived link).

Hindi-language text over the post asks "Who wants Yogi Adityanath to become prime minister in 2029?"

It also makes reference to the Supreme Court staying measures put in place to tackle caste-based discrimination at local universities, framing it as a win for the ruling BJP (archived here and here).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on February 4, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

The video was also shared in similar Threads and YouTube posts.

But the footage has in fact been misleadingly edited to make it appear as if Adityanath was putting himself forward as a prime ministerial candidate.

"This video is fake and is being shared out of context. The Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemns it," party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told AFP on February 5.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a longer version published by the Indian news agency ANI on YouTube on May 18, 2024 (archived link).

"'PoK will become part of India within…' CM Yogi's big claim on PM Modi's third term," reads its headline, using an acronym for "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir", which is how the Pakistan-administered territory is styled in India.

At the 1:33 mark of the longer video, Adityanath can be heard making similar remarks to those in the circulating clip.

The falsely shared video omits a mention of "Narendra Modi", so it appears as if Adityanath is saying "Make me prime minister" rather than "Make Narendra Modi prime minister".

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and the ANI YouTube video

According to the ANI's video description, Adityanath was addressing a rally in western Maharashtra state on May 18, 2024, as general elections were being held.

In a text report, ANI quotes him as saying, "Let PM Modi become the Prime Minister for the third time and within six months PoK will become part of India" (archived link).

Adityanath's speech was also streamed by broadcaster Republic World and the Dainik Jagran newspaper on YouTube (archived here and here).

His remarks were widely covered at the time, with the reports all quoting Adityanath as saying Indian control over the region would come after Modi was elected for a third term as prime minister (archived here, here and here).

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