It has become everyday business for the so-called liberals of the country to show hatred even towards a colour because it is associated with a particular religion. Yes, the colour is ‘bhagwa’ or saffron, and the religion is the ‘fascist’ Sanatana Dharma.
Woke liberals from all across India came out to bat for the movie Pathan and its song, ‘Besharam Rang’, when Hindu groups opposed the actress wearing a saffron-coloured bikini in the same. But now, an eerie silence can be noticed among the liberal and elite circles of the country, when in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, a Hindu temple has been asked to remove its saffron flags or torans as they are called, citing that the colour is ‘offensive’ and can adversely affect the law an order situation of the area.
On 14th February, 2023, began the grand triennial festival, the ‘Kaliyootu Mahotsav’, which takes place at the Vellayani Bhadrakali Temple, situated on the southern outskirts of Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. While special preparations for the festival were taking place this year, as it is taking place in a full-fledged manner of 6 long years, because the 2020 festival had to be ended because of the spread of the Chinese Corona virus, the local administration and the police pointed towards a non-existent problem in a preposterous move.
The Kerala police asked the temple authorities to remove the saffron coloured torans, and replace them with multi coloured ones, as they thought that the solely saffron-flag decoration on the road approaching the temple will lead to a ‘law and order problem’. The police told the temple authorities that they had received a complain over the telephone, citing the ‘offensive’ colour of the torans.
And while the police continued to heckle the preparations of the festival with this outrageous and illogical law and order concern of theirs, the temple authorities refused from removing the toran decorations.
The question which is required to be raised here is how can a mere colour be ‘offensive’ and affect law and order? Doesn’t making such comments for the colour saffron, which is auspicious for all Hindus, that too during a major festival of the region, showcase how people can even develop hatred for a colour, just because it is associated with Sanatana Dharma? At this point, and with such cases taking place in the country, it is essential to ask whether it is a ‘besharam rang’ or those who hate it are the real ‘besharam’ ones.
