Original lion is different: CPI MP demands removal of 'distorted' emblem from new Parliament building
Jul 13, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 13 : Demanding to remove lions that form India's national emblem unveiled recently on the roof of the new Parliament building, Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam slammed the Centre on Wednesday for allegedly replacing the original lion of Ashoka Pillar stating that the original lion was something different.
"We, very strongly, asked the Prime Minister to remove the statue of that lion from the top of the Parliament building because that is not the real lion that India has seen. That is not the lion that the Ashoka pillar has...This lion is frightening everybody," Viswam told ANI.
"This lion suits the ideology and politics of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PM Narendra Modi. The original lion is something else, so replace it with the original lion. I demand to remove the lion from the top of the Parliament building, immediately," he added.
A huge political controversy, with several Opposition leaders accusing the BJP-led central government of distorting the national emblem, erupted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 'National Emblem' cast on the roof of the new Parliament building on Monday (July 11).
The Opposition and several activists accused the PM Modi-led government of replacing the "graceful and regally confident" Ashoka's lions with those having menacing and aggressive postures.
Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders had also accused the government of "distorting" the national emblem. The opposition parties also objected to the manner in which the emblem was unveiled.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Centre should check if the national emblem of Parliament represents "the statue of Great Sarnath" or "is a distorted version of GIR lion".
"Please check it and if it needs, mend the same," he said in a tweet.
He said the unveiling event that held on Monday has drawn a flurry of questions "including constitutional propriety, let alone democratic values".
Trinamool Congress MP Jawahar Sircar said the depiction of Ashokan lions is " unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate".
The National Emblem above the New Parliament Building is made of bronze with a total weight of 9500 kg and is 6.5 m in height. It has been cast at the top of the central foyer of the New Parliament Building. A supporting structure of steel weighing around 6,500 kg has been constructed to support the Emblem.
The concept sketch and process of casting the National Emblem on the roof of the New Parliament Building went through eight different stages of preparation from clay modelling and computer graphics to bronze casting and polishing.
