The walls of the temple premises that have become controversial due to their green colour
Kozhikode: The green-coloured painting in a well-known temple in Kerala's Malappuram district has become a controversy due to the Hindu Aikya Vedi's objections, who want the colour to be changed, claiming that it is associated with a particular community.
The Thirumandhamkunnu Bhagavathy Temple, also a popular pilgrimage destination, has faced criticism from the right-wing group, which threatened to repaint some of the walls that were painted green, forcing the temple administration to repaint them in ivory colour. The Hindu Aikya Vedi alleged that the green colour made the temple look like a mosque.
The reason behind the right-wing's negative obsession with the green colour is that it is associated with religious symbols of Islam and is also present in the flags of Muslim political parties, including the Indian Union Muslim League.
In response to the Hindu Aikya Vedi's protest against the painting, the President of the Malabar Devaswom Board, MR Murali, stated that the controversy over the green colour was unnecessary since the same colour was used before the repainting, and it appeared brighter after a fresh coat was applied to the walls.
He also added that some people intentionally made the images of the walls darker using Photoshop and shared them on social media with malicious intent, which caused confusion among the devotees.
The President of the Devaswom Board also expressed his surprise about the controversy surrounding colour and questioned what was wrong with it. He explained that the walls of the temple were repainted as part of an annual festival, and since the colour became a point of controversy, the direction was given to repaint them with a different colour.
The State President of Hindu Aikya Vedi, KP Sasikala, threatened the temple administration through a Facebook post, stating that if they failed to replace the green walls with a different colour, her organization would do the job itself.
She also mentioned that the Hindu Aikya Vedi had expressed their displeasure over the colour and requested a repaint through a memorandum to the temple administration. She also shared images of the repainted walls on social media.