DigitEye India Fact Checkers
Claim: Karnataka government is removing saffron-coloured signboards of Hindu shop owners.
Conclusion: False. The BBMP implemented the rule of 60% Kannada signboards in Bengaluru with Feb. 28, 2024 deadline, which was extended by two weeks later.
Rating: Misleading — 
A video is being shared on social media with a message in Hindi that reads when translated as:”If you vote for the Congress party, you cannot use saffron colours in your shop, home, locality, temple etc. in Karnataka.”
Ever since the Congress Party was voted to power after May 2023 Assembly elections, similar claims have been appearing on social media.
See the video here:
अगर आप कटवा पार्टी कांग्रेस को वोट करेंगे तो आप अपनी दूकान घर मोहल्ला मन्दिर इत्यादी जगह पर भगवा रंग का उपयोग नही कर सकते कर्नाटक 👇👇👇🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/4OS60mOgRo
— सनातनी हिन्दू राकेश जय श्री राम 🙏🙏 (@Modified_Hindu9) February 25, 2024
The video shows some municipal workers removing an English sign board in saffron-colour in front of a shop and another from a building next to it.
The video has been here and here.
FACT CHECK
The Karnataka government recently enforced the rule to maintain 60:40 rule on sign boards in Kannada and asked the commercial establishment to adhere to it. As a part of the move, several municipal workers have been deployed to remove the signboards in English. The rule doesn’t have anything to do with the colour of the signboard.
The civic body of Bengaluru — Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) — has initiated action against shops and buildings displaying English signboards by at least 60% of businesses with a February 28 deadline, which has been extended by two more weeks later.
Manjunath Rao, the owner of the shop with the saffron-coloured sign in the video, told the news agency AFP that his shop’s signboard was removed for not adhering to the Kannada language rule and ruled out that it has anything to do with the religious angle.
Hence, the claim that saffron-coloured signboards are being removed in Bengaluru is false.
