Fact Check: BJP’s Union Minister Pradhan did not paint logo of another party on the wall

BJP kicked off wall-writing drive, by painting the party symbol 'Lotus' on the wall, at different places. The drive, which was launched marking the party’s 44th Foundation Day, is also a part of the party’s mega campaign for the upcoming general elections.

As part of it, the party members will write slogans “Ek Baar Phir Se Modi Sarkar" and “Ek Baar Phir Se Bhajpa Sarkar" on walls at over 10.72 lakh places, said Tarun Chugh, BJP national general secretary at a press meet.

However, is it possible for a BJP leader to paint the logo of another party on a wall?

But, this kind of image has now become viral on the social media. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan was painting the logo of BJD, the ruling party in Odisha.

A few users even hailed the act and captioned the picture ‘Best Picture of the Day’.

Fact Check:

When we searched the image using Google reverse image search, we found the claim to be False. In the original image, Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was painting ‘Lotus’ on a wall. We found a few pictures where Mr Pradhan was painting ‘Lotus’ on walls at different places in Odisha.

On January 15, the BJP launched the wall painting drive in Kandhamal constituency on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti to boost the confidence of people in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, ahead of the general elections, Pradhan told the mediapersons.

He shared a post on his X wall on January 28, 2024, that read: “I took part of Mega Campaign. In the area of Housing Board Colony which comes under booth no 59.” He shared an image too in this post.

Even the Karyakartas of the BJP shared this viral image along with the original one with the caption that the IT cell of the other party created this kind of hoax image to mislead Odisha public.

BJP Yuva Morcha state coordinator Siddhartha Sankar Samal shared both the original and fake images on his X wall. “The worker of the particular party is misleading Odisha people by doing this kind of fake image. See in coming future Lotus which is a symbol of Glory will spread all over”, he wrote on his wall.

MJ Mahima, BJP Yuva Morcha district president from Dhenkanal, posted the viral image along with the original one on his X handle, with a caption: “A Particular Party IT Cell is creating this kind of hoax image and there worker sharing it in social Media because they are afraid of Narendra Modi & Dharmendra Pradhan.”

With this caption Ramya Mohapatra, IT Cell head of BJP Dhenkanal district, also posted both the images with the following caption: “Yeh Dar Humme Acha Laga”. Also, he wrote: “The Particular Party Workers are afraid by watching the Popularity of Dharmendra Pradhan in Odisha, which is growing day by day.”

The News Insight posted on X: Union Minister #DharmendraPradhan targeted on #SocialMedia.

Hence, the image in circulation on social media is a hoax. Minister Pradhan was painting Lotus on a wall and not the logo of another party.