Calm lions vs 'ferocious' lions: Govt tames Opposition uproar over national emblem
The controversy over the national emblem over the new Parliament building took a new twist, with criticism shifting from the Opposition not being invited to the unveiling to the demeanour of the lions on the emblem. The issue has seen a war of words between the Opposition and the Narendra Modi government.
FollowThe controversy over the national emblem over the new Parliament building took a new twist, with criticism shifting from the Opposition not being invited to the unveiling to the demeanour of the lions on the emblem. The issue has seen a war of words between the Opposition and the Narendra Modi government.
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The Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, criticised the "tinkering with the national emblem" and claimed that the four lions now seemed aggressive rather than calm as they were before.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on July 11 unveiled the emblem in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Jawahar Sircar took to Twitter to share different images of the national emblem and claimed that while the original emblem was regally confident and graceful, the new emblem showed the lions as snarling and unnecessarily aggressive. Terming the new emblem as disproportionate, the TMC leader called it an insult to the national symbol and demanded that it be changed immediately/
Communist Party of India-Marxist Central Committee leader Thomas Isaac took to Twitter to claim that Prime Minister Modi had converted the lean, serene and graceful lions on the national emblem into scowling, muscular and menacing lions. Terming it as the true model of Hindutva transformation, he said that nobody had the right to desecrate national icons like the 'Ashok Stambh'.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that changing the character and nature of the lions on Ashoka's pillar at Sarnath was "a brazen insult to India's national symbol".
However, the government has countered these claims, stating that the 6.5 m tall sculpted national emblem atop the new Parliament House is a 4-dimensional scale replica of the original 'Lion capital' atop the Ashok Stambh at Sarnath.
Kanchan Gupta, senior advisor in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, said: "The Lion capital at Sarnath is still preserved, and anybody can go and examine them. What has been put on top of the new Parliament building is the copy of the original 'Lion capital' on top of Ashoka's pillar."
Laying out the facts, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the original Sarnath Emblem is 1.6 metres high. In contrast, the emblem on the top of the new Parliament building is 6.5 meters high.
"If an exact replica of the original were to be placed on the new building, it would barely be visible beyond the peripheral rail. The 'experts' should also know that the original placed in Sarnath is at ground level while the new emblem is at the height of 33 mtrs from the ground. One needs to appreciate the impact of angle, height & scale when comparing the two structures," he said.
He further said, "If the Sarnath emblem was to be scaled up or the emblem on the new Parliament building is reduced to that size, there would not be any difference."
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