Colour has many meanings. This was all the more evident the way Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue was repainted from saffron to blue in Budaun after a hue and cry was raised over the colour scheme of this newly installed statue.
A statue was recently vandalised in Badaun and was replaced with new statue. Ironically, the prince suit of Ambedkar, which is generally blue was painted in saffron colour.
BSP leader Himendra Gautam, who repainted BR Ambedkar's statue from saffron to blue gave no reason for the sudden change of heart or colour.
When Gautam installed the statue on Monday, it was saffron in colour. “No one in the village raised an objection to having Ambedkar’s statue painted in saffron. I do not know why the media made such a hue and cry. I told the local media that even Gautam Buddha wore saffron and what’s wrong if Baba Saheb’s (Ambedkar) dress was in saffron,” Gautam said.
But now Gautam has no answer as to why he repainted the statue to blue overnight. “Kya karta bhai sahib..,” was his laconic answer.
The statue was vandalised by unidentified miscreants in Dugraiya village in Kunwargaon area of Badaun on April 7. It led to protests in the area and the administration replaced it with a new statue bringing it from Agra.
Most of Dr Ambedkar's statues in UP are blue in colour – which is considered the colour of Bahujan Samaj – that was adopted by BSP.
A senior BJP leader said in lucknow on Tuesday that the party has nothing to do with the statue's colour but asked why such objection to saffron as it represents the Indian culture and is also in the country's flag.
After the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in UP a year back, several government buildings, offices and residences have been painted in saffron. This includes the CM's office and official residences of couple of state ministers.