CHENNAI: Condemning the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for their decision to change the colour of the logo of national broadcaster Doordarshan from red to orange, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday claimed that the BJP was conspiring to 'saffronise' everything and said the Lok Sabha elections' results will show that the people have risen up against such fascism.
Recalling his Lok Sabha campaign, Stalin said, "As we said during the election campaign, these steps (such as logo colour change) are just a precursor to the BJP's plan to 'saffronise' everything."
"The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections' will show that the people of India have risen up against the monolithic fascism of the BJP," he said in a social media post.
Pointing out the saffronizing incidents attempted by the BJP, Stalin said, "They (BJP) applied saffron paint to Tamil Saint Tiruvalluvar. By applying saffron paint on statues of tall leaders of Tamil Nadu, they (BJP) insulted them. They Sanskritized the pure Tamil name of 'Vaanoli' as Akashvani. They also removed the aesthetic Tamil word Podhigai. Now, Doordarshan has been given a saffron stain."
Responding to Stalin's criticism, State BJP vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy said the BJP also condemned the 'red colour' logo of Doordarshan (Red represents 'Communism'), which stands for so many days.
Earlier, the INDIA bloc alliance leaders, including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, called the Doordarshan logo colour change grossly illegal and said it reflected a pro-BJP bias and they also claimed that the logo colour change move was illegal.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary K Balakrishnan and veteran leader G Ramakrishnan called on chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin at Anna Arivalayam.
After meeting Stalin, CPM state secretary Balakrishnan said it was a courtesy meeting.
In a separate statement, MDMK general secretary Vaiko said that the BJP government is trying to impose Hindutva ideology in government departments. "The BJP has started to use government departments to keep its power. As a part of this, the colour of Prasar Bharati's logo has been changed to saffron from red. The BJP government had created the logo of the G20 in saffron colour," he added.