NDA Ally Protests Bihar Govt's Move to Paint Model Schools Saffron

New Delhi: In the newest episode of saffronisation of education in India, the Bihar government, in a directive made public on July 20, has ordered all for 551 Model Schools, renamed the Saraswati Vidya Niketan, to be immediately painted saffron. The decision has been widely condemned not only by opposition parties, but also by the Janata Dal (United), who is the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's primary alliance partner.

According to a report by The Indian Express, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, expressing concern over the development, said, "Education has no colour. It must align only with the spirit enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution, not with any specific colour on school walls." He added, "Our other concern is that the names of the land donors for several schools are being placed below the ‘Saraswati Vidya Niketan’ signage. Ideally, the donors’ names should precede the new name."

A headmaster of a Model School told The Indian Express that earlier there were no directives regarding the colours of school buildings. "It used to be yellow, pink, or even sky blue from time to time. Of late, the schools have mostly been painted pink. However, those choices were left to the headmaster’s discretion. The new education department letter specifies that there must be uniformity across all model schools. While the exterior walls must be saffron, the interior classroom walls have to be white, and the main gate must be painted golden," they said.

'Beginning of the saffronisation of education'

Opposition parties, slamming the not-so-subtle move, have dubbed it the "beginning of the saffronisation of education" in the state.

Rashtriya Janata Dal national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta, while speaking to The Indian Express, remarked, "We saw it coming. It is nothing but the beginning of the saffronisation of education. This is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) model of education. The day the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government decided to rename Model Schools as Saraswati Vidya Niketan, we could sniff the RSS agenda."

Echoing the sentiments, Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari noted, "The BJP is adept at changing colours. They are trying to give education a fixed colour, which is detrimental to democracy. It also signals that Bihar has entered the post-Nitish Kumar era. The BJP is slowly walking into the RSS trap."

The plan to upgrade all district schools and one higher secondary school in each block was a part of the state's “Unnat Shiksha-Ujjwal Bhavishya" scheme, with a budget of Rs 800 crore for the financial year 2026-2027. The scheme allocated approximately 1.45 crore per school, however, the only apparent changes up till now have been to the school's exterior walls and name plate.

BJP's defence

The government, while denying allegations that the choice of colour is politically motivated, maintains it represents "energy and positivity." BJP state vice president Santosh Pathak further claimed that the opposition is "unnecessarily politicising a progressive infrastructure upgrade that will benefit thousands of students," reported The Indian Express.

Bihar's education minister Mithilesh Tiwari commented that the opposition was choosing to view everything through "an RSS prism" rather than acknowledging "the large-scale educational reforms being implemented."

The state's Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary formally launched the Saraswati Vidya Niketan at an event on Sunday (July 19). In a post on X, suffused with religious subtext, he wrote "From the sacred land of Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' ji in Begusarai, the inauguration of 551 Saraswati Vidya Niketan (Model Schools) marked the beginning of a new era in education in Bihar."

राष्ट्रकवि रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर' जी की पुण्यभूमि बेगूसराय से 551 सरस्वती विद्या निकेतन (आदर्श विद्यालय) का उद्घाटन कर बिहार में शिक्षा के नए युग का शुभारंभ किया।

इसके दौरान बी.पी. इंटर स्कूल पहुँचकर मॉडल विद्यालय का निरीक्षण एवं अवलोकन किया तथा गुणवत्तापूर्ण, आधुनिक एवं तकनीक… pic.twitter.com/nUsk72h1gu

— Samrat Choudhary (@samrat4bjp) July 19, 2026

The BJP first independently formed a government in Bihar in April 2026 following the highly controversial revision of electoral rolls in the state.

Not the first time educational institutions have been painted saffron

Ever since the BJP came into power in West Bengal in May 2026, several civic structures have witnesses a colour change. Significantly, a portion of Kolkata's renowned Academy of Fine Arts was painted saffron in July, sparking protests from the city's theatre artists.

In 2024, Rajasthan's state college education commissionerate issued an order for 20 government colleges to be repainted in shades of orange and white under a similar garb of "creating a positive campus environment." When the opposition called out the directives, BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bharadwaj accused them of promoting an "anti-Hindu mindset."

In 2022, the Karnataka government's decision to paint classrooms inside government schools saffron had sparked widespread backlash. The BJP had defended its stance by claiming that the classrooms were being remodelled to honour Swami Vivekananda, who was known to wear a saffron robe.

Back in 2019, a government senior secondary school in Haryana had painted the building pillars saffron and green, emulating the colours of the BJP flag.

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