Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai took a swipe at the Congress Monday, declaring the opposition party becomes unhappy at the sight of saffron. The Congress had slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the decision to paint state-run schools in that hue.
Insisting ‘it is not right to do politics on such issues’, Bommai said Swami Vivekananda was the inspiration behind saffron being chosen. “… it one of the colours in our national flag. Congress is always unhappy when they see saffron colour. The new classrooms are named after Swami Vivekananda, who was a monk. Hence the architect suggested saffron… it doesn’t have any political intentions,” the chief minister said.
The Congress has demanded classrooms and school infrastructure be painted in the colours of the national flag. The state’s communications chief, Priyank Kharge, said, “Why only saffron? You claim to be the most nationalistic party in independent India so paint it in tri-colour. What is your excuse? Are govt and edu department being run by architects now?”
However, he also clarified the Congress does not actually have any problem with the colour.
“We are not opposing saffron but the government’s priorities. There’s crumbling infrastructure, teachers’ shortage, no budget allocated for complete infrastructure, dropouts increasing. Out of all this, the government’s priority is to paint a wall,” he said.
