A portion of Kolkata’s prestigious Lalit Kala Academy has been painted saffron, prompting a protest by the city’s theater artistes. He has written a letter to West Bengal BJP State President Samik Bhattacharya demanding investigation into the matter.

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state in May, a change in the color of many government buildings, roads and civic structures is being seen. Parts of Secretariat Nabanna were recently painted saffron and white, and decorating the iconic Writers Building with saffron bulbs was also experimented with. The government is planning to shift the secretariat to this traditional building. Many road barricades have also been painted yellow and white, a change from the blue-white combination chosen by the previous Trinamool Congress government.

About a week ago, the security room of Lalit Kala Academy was painted saffron. This immediately caught people’s attention. Following the development, a group of artistes gathered in front of the academy and staged a protest on Friday (June 10, 2026). On Monday (June 13, 2026), at least 14 theater artistes, including Mr Chakraborty, Mr Roy, Chandan Sen, Saurav Palodhi, Arun Mukhopadhyay, wrote a letter to Mr Bhattacharya.

‘Attack on the culture of Bengal’

In the letter he said that this is a non-artistic and distorted attack on the culture of Bengal and those who did this have described themselves as supporters and members of BJP. The letter said, “We strongly protest these actions and sincerely hope that this institution – the repository of the artistic heritage of Kolkata and India – will be restored to its previous state. We urge you – as the leader of the West Bengal state unit of the BJP and a leading figure in theater and arts – to investigate the real facts of the matter and take appropriate action.”

Chandan Sen, a prominent theater businessman, said the artistes’ group sought time to personally meet Mr. Bhattacharya this week and discuss the matter as they hoped he would not support such unprecedented authoritarianism. Mr Sen said, “His stance regarding Kamarhati is reassuring to countless people like me. We want to meet him. We are confident that he will now allow such acts.”

“This is sheer stupidity. The previous Trinamool Congress government had also banned the use of red chairs as soon as it came to power. The academy has a rich history of theater practice in the culture of Bengal. You cannot control the mindset of people by changing the colors of buildings,” said renowned theater artist Bibhash Chakraborty.

Secretary of Aneek Theater Group, Arup Roy said that the artists have no problem with changing the color but when the color is a symbol of dominance, protest is inevitable.

‘Leftist Idealist’

Meanwhile, reacting to the matter, actor-turned-MLA Rudranil Ghosh said that whenever the government has changed, such acts have been committed by the academy staff. “When the Left and the Trinamool Congress changed the colour, why didn’t they say anything earlier? I met them. They don’t even remember what was the actual color of that security room? These artists are not just theater artistes, but also Left idealists. They must have forgotten that saffron is the color of Swami Vivekananda and our national flag too. So, what’s wrong with saffron?” He added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bhattacharya accepted the letter sent by the artists. He has strongly opposed such political bias. He said, “This is not part of the BJP’s agenda. Previous governments have done this. BJP has come to power to bring change in such incidents. We will not let this happen. I have seen their letter. If we continue such activities in Bengal, people will throw eggs at us too. We do not want this.”

The Lalit Kala Akademi is primarily governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees and a 21-member Executive Committee. Although it is not directly maintained by the government, it sometimes receives many patronages from various government departments and political leaders for renovation and other works.

The Academy was formally established in 1933 by Lady Ranu Mukherjee. It was initially located in a room borrowed by the Indian Museum, and was later shifted to its present location, Cathedral Road, next to the Rabindra Sadan complex. The galleries of the Academy provide a vast space of 6,300 square feet and include an auditorium, a conference center and many important and priceless collections of art works of Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Nandlal Bose, Jamini Ray, Gaganendranath Tagore and Ramkinkar Baij.