Bhubaneswar: Every day at 4 pm, students come charging out of school gates in Odisha towards buses lined up outside. They resemble an artist’s mixing palette as they merge into the colourful world outside. But soon, the whole scene will lose its vibrancy and transform into a single colour. School uniforms, buildings, walls, footpaths, posters, etc — everything will be turned into a mandatory green.
The ‘green Odisha’ drive is already underway, and it isn’t limited to schools. Everything is a verdant hue, from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation logo to public buses and CM Naveen Patnaik’s posters. Government buildings will be painted over, too.
“The government is painting everything green. It won’t be a surprise if it suddenly asked school children to only carry green colours to school,” says corporate-sector employee Tanya Reddy.
This is no greenwashing of Odisha; it is a new colour branding for the state ruled by five-term CM Patnaik. Not unlike Mamata Banerjee’s Kolkata turning blue-white and K Chandrashekar Rao’s Hyderabad going pink. Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Odisha’s ruling party, is commonly represented by an English Elm-like green colour.
But unlike other states, Odisha’s green is a politically loaded colour, especially in the Hindutva political era.
In March this year, BJP Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra said that many schools in Odisha do not have enough teachers and students cannot even identify Odia alphabets, but the government is busy painting school buildings in “Pakistani colour” as part of its transformation programme.
But the BJD is clear on its choice of colour.
“Green is a progressive colour; it goes with the environment and looks good. Moreover, the colour will help people recognise government buildings. If someone is in trouble, they can spot government offices and ask for help,” BJD MLA Swaroop Das told ThePrint.
According to Mukesh Mahaling, BJP MLA from Loisingha, schools are being painted green in the name of Odisha government’s 5T vision – a governance model based on transparency, technology, teamwork, time, and transformation. All schools covered under this programme are supposed to receive upgraded smart classrooms, e-libraries, and laboratories, but they are being painted in BJD colours instead. Class IX and X students must compulsorily wear green uniforms, too.
District office in Deogarh, Odisha | Nootan Sharma, ThePrint
“This is a clear case of wasteful spending. Schools and clothing are taking on colours of the Pakistani flag. They are prioritising painting over education. This kind of money can be used to build brand-new classrooms,” he says.
Green wave takes over Bhubaneswar
The building of Bhubaneswar’s Capital High School is still red, but some students of Class IX and X have already started attending school in green uniforms.
“I received the uniform on 15 August; I like this colour. It has checks and is vibrant,” says Puranchandra Dakua, a 13-year-old student of Class IX. His current uniform starkly contrasts the simple white shirt and brown pants he wore to school earlier.
Nirupama Mangaraj, school principal and former headmistress of the government-run Gangapada High School, says that not all children have started wearing new uniforms yet.
“Here, the colour of the building is red, but in Gangapada, every wall has turned green. It is also being heard that all school children will wear green uniforms, not just students of Class IX and X.” Though there is no official notification about this change, Mangaraj claims she has heard about it from major uniform suppliers in the city.
Also read: Long, unbroken CM tenures aren’t good for democracy. See Odisha, MP example
‘Not about politics’
Some say this change is to promote ‘uniformity’.
“There’s no official justification for this change, but yes, it is to help ensure uniformity. Every school building will be painted green in every district,” reveals a government official on the condition of anonymity. This won’t just extend to schools, he adds. Every new building will be painted green too.
“Green is a natural colour. It is the colour of forests and hills. There is nothing wrong with the colour. BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi worked as Bhubaneswar’s municipal commissioner from 2006 to 2009, and she changed many colours many times,” says Rabi Das, a senior journalist.
Changing colours is not about politics, he adds. “It must be some routine changes, and we should not get into it.”
Some satisfied residents make similar assertions. “What’s in a colour? It is the work that matters, and the present government is doing just that. Everything else is politics,” says a city dweller requesting anonymity.
Poornima Murmu patiently stands outside Capital High School, waiting to pick her son up. She, too, has received a green uniform for him. “It is fine, but I don’t understand the need for it; if you want to change things, try to improve the education system,” she says, adding that she is happy about “getting it for free”.
Before this, students only received free uniforms until Class VIII.
“We are still distributing the dress. As of now, the response has been good,” says Mangaraj.
Same-colour uniforms will be good for children, she adds. “There will be no visible difference between Odia and English medium schools.”
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)