NEW DELHI has witnessed some contradictory traffic signals of late. On the occasion of UPA-II’s third anniversary of assuming office, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi gave her partymen the green signal to go full speed ahead before the 2014 elections, in an effort to win back the electorate’s waning confidence in the government.

Arguing that as MLAs are entitled to this benefit, the MPs had demanded that the same perk be accorded to them. Sonia, however, put paid to the proposal on the grounds that such symbols of privilege would further discredit the scam-tainted political class in the eyes of the common citizenry.

Politically, the shade is associated with communism, an ideology which makes the UPA’s combative ally, Mamata Banerjee, both metaphorically and literally see red. Increasingly known for a creative imagination which can conjure a conspiracy against her from the most improbable of ingredients.

Given the coalitional imperative to keep Mamata mollified at all costs, Sonia’s veto of red lights on MPs’ cars suggests that discretion can be the better part of flashy valour. Moreover, red is also the colour of the wrong, or debit, side of the financial ledger, and lights of that hue might be interpreted as a taunt to a bankrupt Bengal seeking aid from the Centre.

Considering that red represents the STOP sign on traffic signals, lights of that colour displayed on their vehicles might be an appropriate way of identifying those who are collectively responsible for the policy paralysis that has brought the country to a grinding halt, just as it was getting onto the fast track of progress.