A video of government workers in India’s Karnataka state damaging shop signs that do not comply with a local language requirement has been shared in multiple Hindi-language social media posts that falsely imply the state’s ruling Congress party ordered the removal of saffron-coloured displays. The colour is associated with the Hindu religion and considered sacred. The owner of one of the shops told AFP that stores are supposed to have at least 60 percent of their signboards written in the regional Kannada language, and there was no religious reason behind his sign’s removal.
“If you vote for the Congress party, you cannot use saffron colours in your shop, home, locality, temple etc. in Karnataka,” reads part of the Hindi-language caption to a video that was shared on Facebook here on February 26, 2024.
The opposition Congress party won power in Karnataka state in May 2023, ousting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party from office.
The video shows a group of people using sticks to remove English letters from a saffron-coloured shop sign, as well as from an adjacent building.
The post appears to parrot critics and opponents of Congress who have called the party “anti-Hindu” (archived link).
The video was shared with similar claims elsewhere on Facebook here and here, and on social media platform X here.
But the signs were damaged because they did not comply with a planned language requirement, not because of their colour.
Signage requirement
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video led to a clip uploaded to the verified YouTube channel of local news outlet India Today here on February 23 (archived link).
The title of the India Today clip reads, “Bengaluru’s Language War: BBMP Cracks Down on English Signboards Ahead of Deadline“.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and the clip used in the India Today report (right):
According to the report, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city council of Karnataka state’s capital Bengaluru, took action against businesses displaying English signboards ahead of a February 28 deadline.
The report is referring to an order issued by the BBMP that 60 percent of businesses’ signs must be written in the Kannada language.
According to local media outlet Mint, several local groups had staged demonstrations across Bengaluru in December 2023 demanding the immediate implementation of the BBMP order (archived link).
“Tushar Giri Nath, chief commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said strict action will be taken against those who do not put up Kannada nameplates at shop fronts,” the Mint report said.
Other local media reported on officials taking down signs before the deadline here and here (archived links here and here).
Videos showing other signs being damaged and taken down were shared elsewhere on X here, Instagram here and YouTube here (archived links here, here and here).
‘Nothing to do with religion’
Manjunath Rao, the owner of the shop with the saffron-coloured sign in the video, told AFP his sign was removed for not adhering to the local government’s order.
“We had already been instructed by the civic body that 60 percent of the shop’s signboard should be in the Kannada language. We had placed an order for a new signboard, but they (officials) came and broke the signboard,” Rao said on March 1.
“It does not have any kind of religious angle,” he added.
A spokesperson of the city council also told AFP the claim was false, and only signs that did not follow the language requirement were removed.
“A circular was already issued to every shopkeeper and owner to change the signboard. This has nothing to do with colour or religion,” they said.
AFP has previously debunked posts peddling communal misinformation here, here and here.
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