BJP’s promise made in 2021 for Belgavi local polls on providing free cremation falsely shared as party’s plan for upcoming Karnataka elections

By: Ankita Kulkarni
April 26 2023

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Context

The south Indian state of Karnataka is going to polls on May 10 for 224 seats of the legislative assembly. Ahead of the elections, many parties have issued manifestos mentioning several policies they plan to implement for the state once in power. As political parties gear up for the polls, many of their supporters have taken the battle online often giving rise to the spread of many false and misleading narratives. Many posts circulating on social media claim that Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto for Karnataka assembly elections promises free cremation for the dead. The post includes a photo of some leaders holding some documents and a screenshot of a headline, which when translated to English from Kannada reads, “Free cremation for dead: People are shocked by seeing BJP manifesto.” The image has also been shared by Karnataka’s former chief minister Siddaramaiah on his Facebook page.

In Fact

The screenshot shared in the posts shows the logo of Bengaluru-based media house News First along with their website address. Using the headline as a keyword, we found an article sharing the exact Kannada headline that dates to August 29, 2021. The article published on newsfristlive.com reported on BJP’s manifesto that was released for Belagavi’s Municipal Corporation elections that were held on September 3, 2021. As seen in viral posts, the image of politicians holding some papers, that was the party manifesto, can also be spotted in the News First report. The picture shows Karnataka ex-deputy CM Laxman Savadi holding the manifesto in the center — this also proves that the article is old, as Savadi recently joined BJP’s rival Congress after being denied a ticket in the upcoming assembly elections.

The Belagavi manifesto was also shared on Facebook by BJP Karnataka’s official page on September 1, 2021. One of the points of the manifesto clearly stated, “Belagavi Metropolitan Corporation will provide free cremation for the dead.” An article published by News 18 Kannada on August 30, 2021, also affirms that the provision for providing free cremation was mentioned by BJP for Belagavi’s local election. The provision was then criticized by KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) President DK Shivakumar in a press conference. This proves that the promise for free cremations was made by the BJP in 2021, and not recently.

However, the BJP has not officially released its manifesto for Karnataka. Logically Facts also reached out to the BJP office in Bengaluru, which confirmed that the manifesto is not out yet and that it will be released in the next few days.

The Verdict

The BJP manifesto released for 2021 local elections in Belagavi has been incorrectly quoted as the party’s manifesto for 2023 Karnataka assembly elections. The party has not released its official manifesto for the upcoming elections. Therefore, we have marked the claims as misleading.