Yellow colour is generally believed to be an auspicious colour as it is the colour of turmeric powder used along with vermillion in pujas.
But when it comes to media, yellow colour has gained a negative connotation. Yellow journalism is the term used for negative journalism – presentation of news with distortions smearing colour on factual information. Media houses that adopt this kind of negative journalism are often referred to as yellow media.
In politics, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, the yellow colour has been attributed to the Telugu Desam Party and during the present YSR Congress party government, yellow is being given a negative tinge because it represents the TDP.
So, anything that is yellow is viewed with contempt. The colour has been removed from the government buildings, anna canteens and even ration cards.
Newspapers and television news channels that oppose the Jagan government or support the TDP are yellow media. “Paccha Party” and “Paccha Media” have become villains for the ruling YSRC.
Now, it is Coronavirus time all over the country. The Central government has issued a series of guidelines to the states to follow during this pandemic.
One of the guidelines is to use “yellow colour” bags for the disposal of material used by the Coronavirus patients and suspects, like face masks, tissue papers, cotton, syringes and other biomedical waste.
This is to help the biomedical disposal teams to identify the material used by Coronavirus patients, so that it cannot be mixed with other garbage, and hence, can be treated separately during the disposal.
So, a “yellow bag” indicates that it has Coronavirus-related material and hence, one should keep away from it and take sufficient care, since there is a danger of acquiring the disease.
The Jagan government seems to be fully utilizing these guidelines from the Centre to tell the people that “Yellow is dangerous.” In its campaign material being distributed among the people, it is clearly being mentioned that “yellow is dangerous.”
While it is only to alert the people about Coronavirus, it will also send a message to them not to entertain yellow colour, indicating the TDP!