No, Karnataka govt has not sanctioned ₹5,000 cr for Haj Bhavan renovation

By: Rajini KG
June 15 2023

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Context

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on June 6, 2023, attended an event organized to bid farewell to the first batch of Haj pilgrims from Bengaluru’s Haj Bhavan. The chief minister was accompanied by Zameer Ahmed Khan, Karnataka’s minister of housing, waqf and minority welfare, and Raheem Khan, minister for municipal administration and Haj, among other political leaders. 

Within days of the event, claims about the newly formed Congress-led Karnataka government donating a whooping ₹5,000 crores for the renovation of the Haj Bhavan started surfacing online. One Twitter user posted a picture of a purported screengrab of a broadcast by the Kannada news channel Public TV and wrote: "Raise the price of everything, Now 5000 crore rupees donation to Haj Bhavan by CM!! Hindus, experience now…" The attached screenshot shows a news plate in Kannada that read: "CM has given 5 thousand crores for renovation of Haj Bhavan." This screenshot was shared by several social media users on different platforms. 

In Fact

Logically Facts examined the viral screengrab and checked news segments on the inauguration of the 2023 Haj Yatra from Bengaluru. We found the archived version of the Public TV broadcast on Haj Yatra published on YouTube on June 6, 2023. The video report was titled "2023 Hajj Pilgrim Flight | Haj Bhavan | Public TV." At the 02:02 timestamp, we can see the same Kannada text mentioned in the viral screengrab. The video report, in which the news anchor also claimed that the Karnataka government sanctioned ₹5,000 crores for Haj Bhavan renovation, was removed from YouTube by the news outlet. However, the screenshot of the news outlet mentioning that ₹5,000 crores would be spent on the renovation was shared online by many.

We then checked the livestream of the June 6 event to look for announcements made about the renovation of the Haj house. The livestream was shared by News 18 Kannada on its YouTube channel with the title: "LIVE | CM Siddaramaiah in Haj Bhavan | Inauguration of state-of-the-art Haj Bhavan in Bangalore CM Siddramaiah." At the 49:43 timestamp, Zameer Ahmed says in Hindi: “The last time Congress was in power, Siddaramaiah had sanctioned ₹5 crore for renovation of the Bhavan. After 2018, the coalition government came, and HD Kumaraswamy became the chief minister. We then approached him and requested that Siddaramaiah had sanctioned ₹5 crore for the renovation, but Kumaraswamy also did not release that amount. Then the BJP government came, but they also did not release those funds. Then when the Siddaramaiah government came back to power, we went to him saying the ₹5 crores that you had announced, no government has sanctioned. He took one look at the letter, asked, 'Do you need 5 crores or more?' and promptly signed the release of ₹5 crores for the renovation." 

Kannada news channel News First Kannada also reported the event sharing the same details. The video report mentioned that the Karnataka government had sanctioned ₹5 crores for the renovation of the Haj Bhavan. 

Logically Facts also reached out to a Congress spokesperson who redirected us to Zameer Ahmed's clarification published by the Kannada news website Prajawani News. On June 9, 2023, Ahmed had told the media, "I have not made such a statement (about releasing ₹5,000 crores). Some people have created and spread fake news to create unrest in society. I will take strict legal action against those who use my name to create false news." Vartha Bharathi, a Kannada news website, had also published Ahmed's clarification.

The Verdict

The Karnataka government has released only ₹5 crores for the renovation of Haj Bhavan in Bengaluru. The claim about ₹5,000 crores being released for the purpose is false.