‘Aaj Tak’ made a misleading claim on the abdication of Emperor Ashoka after the Kalinga war

‘Aaj Tak’ news is going viral on social media. The news about Emperor Ashoka can be seen in this screen shot. In which it is written – “ Glorious History of Ashoka Pillar: Abandonment of Rajpat after Kalinga War in 273 BC ”. It is being claimed in this news that after the Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka had abandoned the palace.

Fact Check:

We investigated this claim going viral. We first checked whether Aaj Tak really ran any such news? Our investigation revealed that Aaj Tak has run this news. The viral screenshot can be seen at 00:29 seconds in the video uploaded on Aaj Tak YouTube channel.

On further investigation, we found a tweet by historian and writer Ashok Kumar Pandey. In which Ashok Kumar Pandey wrote – “ All limits of stupidity have been crossed and the anchor and his researchers are proving that even in class VIII they used to play Ludo sitting in the back seats. Emperor Ashoka ruled for some three decades after the Kalinga war. Pick up any book in the world and read it.

For more information on this matter, we contacted Ashok Kumar Pandey. Ashok Kumar Pandey told that there is no need to fact check here, it is pure stupidity. He said that read any book in the world related to Ashok, you will get the right facts. If people had read even the eighth book, they would not have said such things. Taking forward his point, he wrote that even the makers of the film “Ashoka” did not do such stupidity.

Conclusion:

We can conclude from our fact check that the claim of ‘ Aaj Tak ‘ about Emperor Ashoka is misleading. Because according to historians, Emperor Ashoka ruled for three decades after the Kalinga War. After the Kalinga war, he did not leave the palace, but took a pledge never to engage in war activities and violence.

Claim- Emperor Ashoka left the palace after the Kalinga war

Claimant – Aaj Tak

Fact Check – Misleading