Jawhar Sircar, who was the CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2012 to 2016 and is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Trinamool Congress, called it another form of “saffronisation” and called Prasar Bharati “Prachar Bharati”.
“This is clearly saffronisation which is happening across institutions. If you enter the Rajya Sabha in the new Parliament building, the colours and aesthetics have been changed from historical maroon/red to saffron. Half the staff of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha now wear saffron bandhgalas which were earlier steel grey/blue. This was seen in the G20 logo as well which was a lotus against a saffron background. This is an optical construct where the identity of the party and the state are merged together. This is part of a totalitarian regime where you cannot differentiate the party from the state,” Sircar said.
