Nonsense petty politicians run India

Political Smear On Trees

Local Trinamool MLA Defends Paint Job, Says It Makes Trees Look ‘Brighter’

Suman Chakraborti | TNN 

Kolkata: Even trees have not been spared the political smear campaign in Bengal where fights over walls are common in the run-up to elections. Scores of trees along VIP Road have been painted in the colours of the national flag — which also happens to be the colour scheme of the Trinamool Congress party flag. 
    It’s the brainchild of Trinamool MLA Sujit Bose, who apparently wanted to display his love for the party. “The trees lookbrighter now,” he reasoned. 
    Locals say Trinamool workers went around with paint tins and brushes just before the Pujas, painting tree trunks on the Ultadanga-Lake Town stretch. It’s almost a turfmarking exercise, just as walls would be whitewashed and marked ‘all wall TMC’ or ‘all wall CPM’ before polls. During the 2011 assembly election, even lampposts were painted in party colours. But laying political claim to trees is taking it a stretch too far. 
    Environment activists are appalled. They point out that harmful chemicals in the paint could be harming the trees. The MLA, however, said he had done no wrong, insisting he had no political motive in mind when the ‘project’ started. 
    “It was my initiative. After all, the tricolour is the colour of our national flag and the trees are looking brighter. I don’t see anything wrong in this. We take care of the trees as well. There was no intention to make a political statement through this move. People have actually come forward and commended the effort. However, if people say that it is incorrect to colour trees, I shall not do so in the future,” said Bose. 
    Local residents that TOI talked to were unequivocally against colouring the trees. “We don’t want ‘bright’ trees. We prefer them to look natural, even if the MLA may think it to be drab. No one here supports this but since politicians are involved, we thought it was best not to speak out,” said one of them, requesting not to be named. 
    Conservationists are fuming. “It is absolutely wrong to paint trees this way. The chemicals could affect the trees. Why weren’t the forest department and the local civic body intimidated before this was done,” asked Shyamal Ghosh, secretary of the People’s Green Society, an NGO. It isn’t known if the paint was lead-free. 
    “People must respect the environment and keep them as they are meant to be. Trees should never be used in this manner,” said environment activist Subhas Datta. 
    Eco activist Banani Kakkar pointed out that the idea of colouring trees seems to be spreading. “Why go to the VIP Road? Some trees are being painted in front of a nursing home in the heart of the city. I have spoken to Kolkata Municipal Corporation about this. Trees can’t be used to make a statement. It seems that some misguided marketing brain believes that the city's properties can be used in this manner for the gain of a political party,” she said. 
    Activist Ravi Menon fears that the painted trees have already been affected by the paint. “The chemicals could easily harm the trees. We have been fighting against senseless acts like this,” he said.