When security personnel see red over black

On Sunday, when a reporter from a newspaper reached the venue for the silver jubilee function of NIOT in Pallikaranai in which Vice President Naidu was the chief guest, she was not allowed inside the auditorium citing that she was wearing black coloured dress. This is not an isolated incident. When the Chinese President was in city for the Summit, this reporter (unintentionally wearing a black t-shirt) was trying to see the convoy of Chinese President zooming past OMR. A policeman standing on the median of the road panicked and asked him to move away from the vicinity.

Chennai police had rounded up many from north eastern states who were wearing black T-shirts thinking that they were Tibetans planning to protest against the Chinese President. That is not all. When assembly sessions are on, reporters covering the State Secretariat are often asked by marshals not to wear black – a colour of protest. Ironically, black is a politically significant colour in Tamil Nadu, popularised by Periyar EV Ramasamy – it is also a prominent part of the two Dravidian majors, including the ruling party. 

This restriction seems to be limited only to TN – when PM Modi hosted a ‘change within’ event at his residence on October 22, there were many celebrities who attended it wearing black.