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Srinagar: Mainstream parties in the Kashmir Valley have accused the BJP of “double standards” and “exploiting religious sentiments in Kashmir” after some social media users pointed out that an election advertisement, which the party issued in Kashmir’s dailies Thursday, relied on the colour green instead of the party’s trademark saffron shade.

Along with election slogans, the advertisement, published in almost all local newspapers in the state, contained pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s candidate for the Srinagar-Budgam Lok Sabha constituency, Khalid Jehangir. The slogan beside Modi read, “Development for Kashmir Vote for Khalid Jehangir”.

It is the colour, however, that has become a talking point in the Valley. The colour green is associated with Islam as the dome of the Prophet (SAW) mosque in Medina of Saudi Arabia is also green. Besides, Muslims in South Asia mostly use green flags in religious processions.

The advertisement is being seen as a tactical move to appeal to the emotions of voters in Kashmir.

Also read: Coming soon, a BJP report card on how Mamata, KCR, Kejriwal & co failed their states

How saffron has greened: Rivals hit out

One of the first people to take a jibe at the advertisement was Haseeb Drabu, former finance minister and former leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“In Kashmir, the colours are changing and how! Such are the political colours of elections. How saffron has been greened! Or is it the PDP has left an indelible mark on the BJP palette?” Drabu tweeted along with a picture of the advertisement.

Drabu, who resigned from the PDP in December last year, is seen as one of the “architects” of the PDP-BJP alliance that formed a government in the state in 2015.

The National Conference (NC) said the BJP advertisement “exposes the hypocrisy of the party”.

“Everywhere else in the country they promote colour saffron but in Kashmir, they know the religious sentiment is different so they have changed their stand,” NC spokesperson Imran Dar told ThePrint. “Today only one of their leaders has stated that the BJP has no problem with eating beef in Kashmir. All of this tells us one thing only, they have a put up a different face in Kashmir.”

J&K Congress spokesperson, Farooq Andrabi, accused the BJP of trying to mislead the people of Kashmir.

“In the 2014 elections, BJP made a lot of promises and broke all of them. The BJP thinks that by these acts people might begin to like them. They are mistaken,” Andrabi.

Also read: Beef is not banned in J&K, says BJP leader, forgets 157-year-old law against cow slaughter

‘Shouldn’t be seen through the prism of colours’

Jehangir, for whom the BJP had issued the advertisement, told ThePrint that “society should stop seeing politics through the prism of colours”.

“I am fighting the elections on the principles of truth,” Jehangir said. “My slogan is jhoot choriye, sach boliye (Leave falsehood, embrace truth). That is what my politics is all about. We are living in 2019 and society should stop seeing politics through the prism of colours.”

This, however, isn’t the first time that Khalid has relied on the colour green to push through his poll message.

On 2 April, Khalid had tweeted a picture of himself with the colour green in the background. Although Prime Minister Modi found a space in the corner of the picture, the colour saffron was given a complete miss.

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