By IANS,
Kolkata : It seems that in West Bengal, the proverbial “red carpet welcome” has given way to green – the colour associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress – as Governor M.K. Narayanan walked on a green coloured one at a university convocation.
As red for them is reminiscent of the “34 years of misrule” by the Left Front regime, Trinamool Congress students at the convocation ceremony of Kalyani University in Nadia rolled out a green carpet for Narayanan who presided over the function Thursday.
“The red colour is associated with the Left Front and a reminder of its 34-year misrule. That is why we have changed the colour,” said a member of the Trinamool- affiliated students’ wing.
The change of colour attracted a rather quirky comment from Communist Party of India-Marxist parliamentarian Shyamal Chakraborty.
“Will now they ask Jawaharlal (Nehru) be renamed ‘Jawahar green’ or the Red Fort to be changed to Green Fort,” asked Chakraborty.
With the Communists in the state having been pushed to the opposition benches, the colour red — long associated with the Leftist ideology world over — has also been out of the canvas with only green and Banerjee’s favourite white and blue ruling the roost.
While Banerjee has made sure her favourite two colours are vibrant around the city, her party workers ensure green is the order of the day with the chairs, canopies and even the carpets resplendent with the colour in any function, celebration or rallies hosted by the Trinamool.
The fight between the red and green has not been restricted only to the state.
The People’s Republic of China under its founding father Mao Zedong had once mulled changing the traffic signalling system with green signalling “stop” and red for “go”, arguing how the colour red which symbolised revolution and the national pride, can stand for stillness.
Only time will tell if the Writers’ Buildings – the seat of power in the state – standing tall in red will go the green way. It’s virtual avatars, however, have already experienced the metamorphosis with Trinamool supporters morphing the traditional red with green.