Claim
During his 2024 Bharat Jodo Yatra, which spent 11 days in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi deliberately avoided visiting Ayodhya.
“राहुल गांधी ने 2024 में जब उनकी भारत यात्रा 11 दिनों के लिए उत्तर प्रदेश में आई थी, तब जानबूझकर अयोध्या जाने से परहेज किया था”▶ Watch source segment
Rationale
The 2024 yatra (formally the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra) did spend 11 days in Uttar Pradesh, covering 20 districts, and its route did not include Ayodhya — both specific factual elements of the claim check out. The route was planned and revised by the Congress party itself, and Gandhi commented critically on the Ayodhya Ram Lalla consecration while in UP without visiting the town, making 'deliberately avoided' a reasonable characterization of a chosen route omission, though the intent attribution ('जानबूझकर') is the anchor's framing rather than a stated Congress position; confidence is moderated for that interpretive element.
Evidence
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Jodo_Nyay_Yatra Records that Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Uttar Pradesh at Chandauli on 16 February 2024, spent 11 days in the state covering 20 districts and 1,074 km, and that the route did not include Ayodhya; Gandhi criticised the Ram Lalla consecration ceremony's VVIP treatment while in UP. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://www.indiatvnews.com/uttar-pradesh/rahul-gandhi-bharat-jodo-nyay-yatra-shortened-in-uttar-pradesh-congress-2024-02-12-916414 Contemporaneous reporting on the UP leg's route, listing districts covered and skipped — Ayodhya was not on the route. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/uttar-pradesh-route-change-for-rahul-gandhis-bharat-jodo-nyay-yatra-sparks-controversy Reports that the UP route was actively curated/changed by Congress for political and scheduling reasons, showing the route composition was a deliberate party decision. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://newschecker.in/fact-check/rahul-gandhi-visits-ayodhya-ram-temple-after-filing-nomination-no-viral-video-is-from-jharkhand Newschecker fact-check confirming a viral video purporting to show Rahul Gandhi visiting Ayodhya was actually from Deoghar, Jharkhand — corroborating that no Ayodhya visit occurred during the yatra period. ✓ reachable · archived