Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday criticised the reported change in the colour of the Indian hockey team’s jersey, alleging that the move was politically motivated and had hurt the sentiments of sports lovers across the country.In a post on X, Patnaik said he was “deeply anguished” over the reported replacement of the team’s blue jersey with saffron, calling the traditional blue an emotion associated with India’s sporting heritage. “The iconic shade of blue of the Indian hockey team’s jersey is not just a colour. It is an emotion associated with the nation’s sporting heritage,” he wrote, adding that the blue jersey, inspired by Ashoka Chakra in the national flag, symbolised national pride.Recalling Odisha’s long association with Indian hockey, Patnaik said that Odisha had become the first and only state govt to sponsor the national men’s and women’s teams when they were struggling to find sponsors. He alleged that the reported colour change was linked to the BJP govt in Odisha.“Just because the government changed in Odisha, it should not change our national team colours. This is petty politics of the worst kind,” he wrote, adding that changing the jersey colour would amount to erasing the country’s sporting legacy.Responding to the allegations, BJP Odisha vice-president Golak Mohapatra rejected the charge, saying the present govt was merely restoring the original colour scheme. “Before the BJD came to power in Odisha, govt buildings and several public structures were painted in shades of gerua (orange). We are only reverting to those colours. It was the BJD that changed the colour of everything to green during its tenure,” Mohapatra said.
