Saffronisation

Ambedkar's saffron statue installed in Uttar Pradesh

The BSP had been organising Ambedkar Jayanti annually on a big scale | PTI (File) Representational image

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday installed a statue of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar in a Budaun village painted saffron, unlike the usual blue.

The statue of the architect of the Indian Constitution in Dugraiyya village, which was vandalised some time back, was replaced with this new one.

The new statue of Ambedkar from Agra was unveiled in the presence of district police officers.

In the past, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan, which houses the office of the chief minister, was painted saffron and later even the Haj Committee office. Saffron is the colour representing the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who himself wears saffron robes, defends the colour fetish and finds nothing wrong with it.

"Saffron colour represents purity... can someone deny the existence of the sun which is also saffron... people questioning all these are narrow-minded," he has said many times in the past.