Kolkata Police’s orange T-shirt tender for Durga Puja volunteers sparks row

A political row erupted in West Bengal over a tender floated by the Kolkata Police to procure orange-coloured, full-sleeve T-shirts and peak caps for temporary volunteers during Durga Puja.

“An e-tender has been invited for the procurement of orange-coloured full-sleeve T-shirts and peak caps for temporary volunteers during the Durga Puja. The total estimated cost is ₹89 lakh,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

Every year, the police recruit temporary volunteers for a 10-day period during Durga Puja to assist police personnel with crowd management at major intersections and arterial roads. National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets, scouts, students and NGOs also serve as volunteers.

“While NCC cadets, scouts and students come in their uniforms, the full-sleeve T-shirts and caps will be given to volunteers recruited for a temporary period during the puja,” said the officer.

Around 20,000 such volunteers are deployed. “The colour will be changed this year from blue and white to orange. This will make the volunteers conspicuous and easily identifiable in the crowd,” another officer said.

This, however, triggered a political row in the state, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress alleging that it was an attempt to “saffronise” the police force.

“The BJP treats saffron as its party colour. The police are already behaving like BJP cadres and introducing saffron colour in uniform amounts to complete ‘saffronisation’. They have effectively put them in a ‘jersey’, and significant expenditure is being incurred to manufacture these new uniforms,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

“They (BJP) are trying to mix administration and religion. They are trying to identify this government with a particular religious community. This government hasn’t done anything fruitful so far. The BJP is playing divisive politics,” Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy said.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, refuted the charges, saying that saffron is the first colour of the Indian flag from the top and symbolises courage and sacrifice.

“It doesn’t matter what the TMC or the Congress are saying. They always make baseless allegations. Saffron is the first colour on our National flag. It symbolises courage and sacrifice. Do the Congress and the TMC want to insult the saffron colour and the Indian tri-colour?” BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.