News agency ANI, and media outlets NDTV, ABP Live News, Times Now Navbharat, and some others have reported that at a press meet in Lucknow on October 26, 2026, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav removed his customary red cap and put on a saffron turban. They put out visuals which showed someone tying a saffron headgear on Yadav’s head.

ANI shared a video of the event on its Facebook and Instagram accounts with the caption, “Akhilesh Yadav removes his red cap and wears a saffron turban ahead of the UP elections.” (Archive links: 1, 2, 3)

Apart from ANI, NDTV, ABP Live News, Times Now Navbharat, Prabhat Khabar, Nai Dunia and NewsX Live also made the same claim.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shared the video from its official X account and wrote, “Those who mocked Sanatan Dharma have started wearing saffron as elections approach!”

The BJP further accused Akhilesh Yadav of opposing the Ram Temple and attempting to rebrand himself through ‘soft Hindutva’.

Fact Check

Journalist Piyush Rai responded to an NDTV post and called its reporting incorrect. Rai said he was personally present at the press conference and that Akhilesh Yadav had worn a red turban. He also shared a photograph from the event on his X account.

We then checked the livestream video of the press conference available on the Samajwadi Party’s official YouTube channel. At 38.07 minute, a person can be seen carrying a red piece of cloth and tying a turban around Akhilesh Yadav’s head. The video clearly shows that the turban was red, not saffron.

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The available press conference video and the statement of journalist Piyush Rai, who was present at the event, make it clear that Akhilesh Yadav was wearing a red turban. The claim that he wore a saffron turban is false.

Apart from this, after the controversy over the colour of the turban emerged, Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at media organisations during a press conference held on October 27. At 36 minutes and 54 seconds in the video below, Akhilesh Yadav can be heard saying:

“Some people’s cameras are such that even the colour red appears saffron to them. The truth is that once their masks come off, they too will appear to be of just one colour. I don’t know what kind of lens they use on their cameras…”

To sum up, Akhilesh Yadav put on a red turban during a press conference on October 26. ANI and several other media organisations ran visuals where the turban appeared to be saffron and claimed that the SP chief had removed his customary red cap and worn a saffron turban.