Fact Check: BJP ditching saffron for green in posters is from Kashmir LS polls in 2019

Hyderabad: A poster showing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) logo with a green background instead of saffron is being widely shared on social media.

In light of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, people are sharing the poster claiming that BJP has changed colours to woo voters in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority area. Click here to view the archived version and similar posts.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading as the BJP poster with Urdu text and the green background is from the 2019 Parliamentary polls.

We performed a keyword search to check whether the BJP used any campaigning materials with a green background for Jammu and Kashmir but could not yield any results. The social media handles for BJP units for Jammu and Kashmir (Facebook, Instagram and X accounts) continue to have saffron in their party logo, as seen in the profile photos.

By doing a reverse image search, we found the viral image/poster in a media report published by The Kashmir Press on April 4, 2019.

According to the report, the poster was shared ahead of the Parliamentary polls in 2019, where the BJP launched a green logo for Kashmir polls.

The report said that “The party has extensively used green color in its poll campaigning material like posters and used Urdu language in an apparent effort to attract voters since local population identifies with the shade.”

“The green color has Islamic connotations and is widely used in the Mosques or any other Muslim places of worship in Kashmir,” the report added.

The report also quoted Dr Mohammad Rafi, who was a senior state BJP leader in 2019, as saying, “Green is a symbol of peace. We are using the color in our poll campaigning material since it symbolizes peace which will bring peace, progress and development in Kashmir.”

Moreover, similar posters carrying the image of Khalid Jehangir, BJP’s candidate for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency in the 2019 polls, were subjected to criticism and trolling at that time due to the usage of green colour in the BJP’s campaigning material.

Here’s National Conference’s Omar Abdullah tweeting about BJP’s green poster. (Archive)

Multiple media organizations such as The Wire, The Print and The Telegraph also mentioned the BJP adopting the green colour to better its chances in Jammu and Kashmir.

Hence, we conclude that the viral BJP poster ditching saffron for a green background for its campaigning during the Kashmir Lok Sabha polls in 2019 has resurfaced for the 2024 polls.