A coat of saffron to bus stands in Gujarat has kicked up a row with Opposition Congress today seeing red.
A coat of saffron to bus stands in Gujarat has kicked up a row with Opposition Congress today seeing red.
The ruling BJP was accused by Congress of propagating its "communal ideology" through the hue, a charge denied by the state government, after the pick-up stands for state transport buses along the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar highway were painted in saffron.
"In the name of upgradation of GSRTC (Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation), the state government painted the pick-up stands with saffron colour, which is nothing but an attempt to demonstrate their (BJP)'s communal ideology," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
He said around 20 pick-up stands meant for state transport buses along the highway have been painted in saffron.
However, the government refuted the charge of spreading communal ideology, saying the saffron colour was chosen so that the stands could be visible in dark. The stands were earlier painted in red.
"We have decided to paint the pick-up stands of state transport buses, located along the highway, in saffron because it (the colour) could be visible in dark. There is no such communal thing as being alleged by Congress," State Transport Minister Vijay Rupani told PTI. Seeking to blunt the criticism by Congress, Rupani said it was Congress and not BJP which plays the politics of appeasement and communalism.
"If you see in the past, it was during the Congress' regime in Gujarat when the buses of civic body and state transport were painted saffron," the minister said.
When asked whether the government will start painting other bus stands too in saffron, Rupani said, "there is no such thing." However, the Congress said the BJP's decision to use saffron colour was nothing but propagation of their communal agenda. "They could have painted it in white or green or they might have put a universal colour red which is used as an indication to stop buses, but as they are filled with the communal ideology, they did this," Doshi said.
He alleged that every act of the BJP government is reflective of their communal mindset.
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