Trinamool’s fresh logo: Change in colour, name, slogan gives clear political message

Kolkata, March 23: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of West Bengal changed its logo earlier in March and it was done deliberately to score some political points. The original symbol of the party featured a couple of grass flowers against the backdrop of the Tricolour. The petals of the flowers were in the three colours found in the Tricolour - saffron, green and white.

But the new logo has made a drastic departure from the old one. The Tricolour is less prominent now, even more the saffron part. Instead, a white and blue combination has become dominant (black and white grass flowers against the backdrop of a blue circle). The new logo is also known to be a brainchild of party supremo Mamata Banerjee who had formed the party in 1998.

No more 'Congress' after Trinamool

Another significant change in the new logo is that the word 'Congress' was been dropped and it is only 'Trinamool' now. This is significant as Banerjee had given her newborn party the name of Trinamool Congress after coming out of the Congress to show to the world that she was the real successor to the Grand-Old Party. The pattern was in sync with most parties in India that former leaders of the Congress formed after leaving the party.

Banerjee had wanted to prove that her party was the real Congress in Bengal and not the party she had left out of frustration that it never fought the Left which had dominated the state's politics for a long time.

But it has been 21 years since she formed the new party and dominating the state's politics one-sidedly, it is not surprising if Banerjee decides to stop taking the 'help' of the Congress any more and makes her party known only by the name of Trinamool as it is the most powerful outfit in Bengal now and might remain so in the foreseeable future.

One also needs to keep in mind that Banerjee is one of those rare leaders in India who has eclipsed the parent party after coming out of it - something the great Indira Gandhi had done earlier.

If the leader today decided to dump the name 'Congress' just because she has a formidable brand of her own, it's not something unusual. Banerjee clearly gives the message that she no more agrees to play a second-fiddle role to a weak national party like the Congress. Instead, by having a Congress-less name, Banerjee gives the impression that Trinamool is a party that has the capacity to do big all by itself.

Change of colours: More green, less saffron

Next is the change of colours. By minimising saffron in its new logo by strategically placing the Tricolour which has given a predominance to green, Banerjee has again tried to drive home the point that saffron politics is not going to work in Bengal where the TMC has the last say. By going more green, Trinamool gives the impression that it is the symbol of secular politics, not communal ones.

The new slogan makes TMC the real representative of Bengal

This message that it is the TMC which is a natural choice for Bengal and not the BJP is also reasserted by the slogan "Aamar, Aapnar, Banglar" (My, yours, Bengal's). In this slogan, there is a straightforward message that the TMC is the best custodian of Bengal's interest and represents the state best, across the classes and the spectrum. This is a very well-calculated slogan that Bengal's ruling party has come up with to defeat the BJP's mission to topple Banerjee in Kolkata.