Author: Vandana Menon
Publication: The Print
Date: January 15, 2018
URL:   https://theprint.in/2018/01/15/tweet-gorakhpur-adityanath-akhilesh-time/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

A picture tweeted about an event at the Gorakhpur Mahotsav was meant to embarrass Yogi Adityanath. It turns out the event was held before he became CM.

New Delhi: A picture tweeted by an advisor of Akhilesh Yadav over the weekend to embarrass the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh turned out to be from an event that was held while the Samajwadi Party was in power.

The picture of a woman dancing on stage was first tweeted by Aashish Yadav, a former BBC journalist who is currently Akhilesh’s media advisor.

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Aashish Yadav @aashisshsy

yaaogaI jaI kxa gaaorKapaur maHaotsava, satayauga kxI saByataa AaOr saMskxarao kxao dSaa-taa HuAa !
9:39 PM – 12 Jan 2018
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In the tweet, Aashish wrote: “a satyug civilisation and values” were on display. The tweet has since been deleted.

Aashish claimed the woman was dancing at the Gorakhpur Mahotsav, a three-day festival that is held in Adityanath’s constituency to promote cultural events and local artists. The event is sponsored by the state government.

According to the event’s website, one of the attractions of the Gorakhpur Mahotsav is a “children’s festival comprising of various academic, sports, and cultural inter school competitions of children”.

However, the picture is actually from the Gorakhpur Mahotsav that was held in 2016, when Akhilesh Yadav was still the state’s chief minister. The photograph is also archived and was part of a segment called ‘Gorakhpur Got Talent’.

Before the tweet was deleted, it was retweeted by Manoj Dhoopchandani, a former spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party. The same picture was also tweeted by other accounts which support the Samajwadi Party, and some who identify themselves as Aam Aadmi Party supporters.

All these handles have a large following, and the retweets were used to take a dig at Yogi Adityanath. While many commented on the dancer, some also pointed out that the event was being held in Gorakhpur, which is the CM’s constituency.

They also referred to the deaths of children in a government hospital in Gorakhpur in August 2017. None of them deleted their tweets even after the original was deleted.