In India’s political and social imagination, colours have rarely been neutral. Among them, blue occupies a distinctive place, carrying an enduring association with protest, dignity, and the struggles of the marginalised. From indigo revolts under colonial rule to its later embrace by Dalit movements, blue has travelled from the fields of forced cultivation to the heart of constitutional morality.
The Indigo Revolt and the First ‘Blue’ Protest
The political meaning of blue first crystallised during the Indigo Revolt of 1859–60 in Bengal. For decades, peasants had been coerced by European planters into cultivating indigo, a crop that depleted soil and offered little remuneration. A magistrate’s notice in early 1859, declaring indigo cultivation non-obligatory, became the spark for collective defiance. Peasants refused to sow indigo, challenged planters’ authority, and in some instances attacked factories or resisted armed enforcers. While sections of historiography describe the revolt as largely non-violent, it was undeniably confrontational. The Bengali intelligentsia, wary of antagonising colonial power, maintained a cautious distance. This reluctance ensured that the movement, despite lasting over a year, remained localised and anti-planter rather than evolving into a broader anti-colonial struggle.
Champaran: Indigo and the Birth of Satyagraha
Nearly six decades later, indigo resurfaced at the centre of a transformative political moment. In 1917, launched his first experiment with satyagraha in India at Champaran, Bihar. Indigo plantations dominated the region, and peasants were bound by the oppressive tinkathia system, which forced them to cultivate indigo on a fixed portion of their land. Invited by , Gandhi investigated the tenants’ grievances, documented their suffering, and mobilised public opinion through non-violent resistance. When ordered to leave Champaran, he refused, asserting his moral duty to stand with the ryots. The resulting mass mobilisation compelled the colonial administration to concede reforms, marking a decisive shift in India’s freedom struggle toward civil disobedience.
From Indigo to Memory: The Fading of Blue
Despite its significance, the symbolic power of indigo gradually receded from public memory. The freedom struggle moved on to new idioms and icons. Blue as a colour of agrarian resistance faded, awaiting a new political context to restore its meaning.
Ambedkar and the Reclaiming of Blue
It was who reintroduced blue into India’s political symbolism. Statues and images of Ambedkar often depict him in a blue suit, Constitution in hand, striding forward. Over time, this visual choice became inseparable from Dalit assertion and the demand for equality. Several explanations have been offered for this association. Blue has been linked to the sky’s universality, to equality and the working class, and to Buddhist and folk traditions. Ambedkar’s attire itself was a statement — modern, dignified, and defiant of caste hierarchies.
Varna, Colour, and Social Hierarchy
A deeper layer emerges from Ambedkar’s own scholarship. In “Riddles of Hinduism”, he examined Puranic accounts of the varna system, citing translations by John Muir. These texts associated Brahmins with white, Kshatriyas with red, Vaishyas with yellow, and Shudras with black. Anthropologist Nick Allen has shown that across cultures, dark colours such as black or blue are often assigned to groups placed lowest in social hierarchies, marking otherness and inferiority. Whether consciously or not, Ambedkar’s adoption of blue can be read as a powerful inversion — reclaiming a colour historically associated with stigma and transforming it into a symbol of dignity and resistance.
The Blue Chakra and Constitutional Meaning
Blue also occupies a central place in the Indian national flag through the Ashoka Chakra. Positioned at the heart of the tricolour, it embodies law, justice, and moral order. Seen through this lens, blue connects the spirit of civil disobedience with constitutional values — the right to assemble peacefully, to dissent, and to protect the rights of the marginalised. In this sense, blue binds together disparate strands of Indian history: peasant resistance, Gandhian satyagraha, Ambedkarite assertion, and constitutional morality.
What to note for Prelims?
- Indigo Revolt (1859–60): causes and nature
- Champaran Satyagraha (1917) and tinkathia system
- Symbolism of colours in Indian socio-political movements
- Role of Ambedkar in Dalit assertion
What to note for Mains?
- Evolution of protest symbols in colonial and post-colonial India
- Link between economic exploitation and political mobilisation
- Ambedkar’s reinterpretation of history and symbolism
- Constitutional values as instruments of social justice
