Political hue

privilege in India,to go — to be replaced by the flashing green beacon. Poriborton,indeed.

It came up with this solution on the prodding of the Supreme Court,which earlier this month criticised the misuse of red beacons and sirens across the country. State Transport Minister Madan Mitra’s proposal,which shows a touching belief in the transformative power of optical illusions,has been reportedly agreed to by Banerjee. He did not blush a shade of scarlet even while declaring that “there will be no space for red” in the state,since unlike the soothing properties of green and blue,“red is the (sic) colour of allergy”.

It is common for political parties worldwide to appropriate colours and symbols. The BJP is identified by saffron,while in America,states are either red (Republican) or blue (Democrat). But in Bengal,the politics of colour has taken on tints of paranoia. Evidently,for the Trinamool,it is not enough to oust the Left from power. The battle must continue against that insidious adversary,the colour red. Hence,the purge against red carpets,crimson lights and fifty other shades of Leftist behaviour. Bengal’s electorate might legitimately wonder if the historic verdict of 2011,ending 34 years of Left rule,was only a momentous change of hue. For all its opposition to the CPI(M),the Trinamool Congress has shown a similar intolerance of dissent,and proclivity to use violence to stamp its writ in the state’s villages that marked the rule of the Left. The other worry: has Madan Mitra’s eagle eye spotted traffic lights yet?