Recently, Doordarshan’s move of changing its logo colour from red to orange has sparked controversy. The opposition attacked this move by calling it “Saffronisation” etc. West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee took to X and posted, “I am shocked at the sudden saffronisation and change of colour of our Doordarshan logo when the national elections are taking place across the country! It is absolutely unethical, grossly illegal, and speaks loudly of the pro-BJP bias of the national public broadcaster!”
Congress MP and former union minister of information and broadcasting Manish Tewari also criticised this move. He posted on X, “This is an attempt on the part of the govt to saffronise and capture government institutions. The said move clearly undermines the neutrality and credibility of India’s public broadcaster.”
While TMC MP jawahar Sircar, who served as ex- CEO of Prasar Bharati also criticised the move. He said in a post on X, “As Ex-CEO of Prasar Bharati it hurts to see the saffaronisation of Doordarshan’s logo-just before election! It will influence the voters by overlaying the colour of one religion and Sangh Parivar colour with a “neutral” Public Broadcaster and a biased Govt/Regime.”
As ex CEO of Prasar Bharati it hurts to see the saffronisation of Doordarshan’s logo
— just before elections!
It will influence voters, by overlaying the colour one religion and Sangh parivar colour with a ‘neutral’ Public Broadcaster and a biassed Govt/Regime! pic.twitter.com/g7m0PH9nMf— Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) April 20, 2024
Is It Actually Saffronisation!?
The then prime minister Indira Gandhi selected the first Doordarshan logo. It first broadcasted on April 1, 1976, along with the theme music that Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan composed. Interestingly, it was an orange colour logo set against a green background.
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, the vice president of the BJP Andhra Pradesh, criticized those who were opposing this. He said, “When Doordarshan was launched in 1959, it had a saffron logo. Now, as the govt reintroduces the original logo, liberals and Congress are outraging over it. It’s blatantly obvious they harbour hate against ‘Bhagwa’ and Hindus.”
While Gaurav Dwivedi, the CEO of Prasar Bharati, dismissed the criticism. He said, “The colour is orange. Six to seven months ago, we revamped the DD India [English news channel] logo to the same colour ahead of the G20. Thus, two news channels from the same group now follow the same visual aesthetic.”
Why is there even a controversy ? When Doordarshan started color broadcasting during Asiad Games 1982, the logo’s colour was saffron. Question is – who changed the colour later and why ?
All DD did now was to revert back to its original logo colour pic.twitter.com/XtsiLNu3bZ
— Gaurav Pradhan 🇮🇳 (@OfficeOfDGP) April 20, 2024
In addition, journalist Kanchan Gupta criticised Mamata Banerjee for her claims and provided a detailed history of the logo.
𝗗𝗗 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻-𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀
📌Doordarshan’s original ‘Eye’ logo was designed by Devashis Bhattacharyya of NID.
📌It was selected by PM Indira Gandhi who was concurrently I&B Minister (1971-73).
📌Doordarshan went colour on Independence Day 1982.… pic.twitter.com/AaIiDf9Vrz— Kanchan Gupta (Hindu Bengali Refugee)🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) April 20, 2024
While Filmmaker, Vivek Agnihotri reacted to Mamata Banerjee by posting, “Every nation has a primary colour. What’s wrong if the national channel uses nation’s cultural colour? Just because Mamata Banerjee is painting Bengal green does it mean it has become Pakistan? Who knows? Maybe. FYI, Firhad Hakim, aka Bobby Hakim, in an interview to a Pakistani journo, Maleeha Siddiqui, said “Please come along and let us take you to mini-Pakistan in Kolkata.” He was referring to Garden Reach area in Kolkata. Beware.”
BEWARE:
Every nation has a primary colour. What’s wrong if the national channel uses nation’s cultural colour? Just because @MamataOfficial is painting Bengal green does it mean it has become Pakistan? Who knows? Maybe. FYI, Firhad Hakim, aka Bobby Hakim, in an interview to a… https://t.co/vRUWvoOogf
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) April 20, 2024
In Short,
This is history of Doordarshan explained in a concise manner. Readers are free to conclude whether it is actually saffronisation or another propaganda.