New Delhi: Prime Minister Modi had unveiled the cast of the national emblem on top of the new Parliament building. National emblem of India was adopted from the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath on 26 January 1950.
Amid controversy over the National Emblem, Trinamool Party leadership in Bengal blamed the Centre for changing India’s history and culture, apart from the national emblem. Trinamool Party Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said, “Not only the national emblem lion Capital of Ashoka but there is an attempt to change the history of the country and its culture.”
Opposition parties claimed that they were distorted to look more ferocious than the original. Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar claimed that it was an “insult to our national symbol, the majestic Ashokan Lions”, while “Modi’s version will be put above the new Parliament building.” State Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said, “There is a law in our country under which distortion of the national flag and national anthem is a punishable offence.
The same is for the national emblem. But I wonder how the national emblem is being distorted and that too in the presence of the Prime Minister. This should not have happened.” Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar accused BJP government at the Centre of insulting the national emblem by installing an “aggressive version of the Ashokan Lions” as a national emblem atop the new parliament building. Historian Ranjan Chakraborty said, “The Lion Capital at Sarnath expresses peace and transformation King Ashoka.
The new emblem is clear deviation from that.” Trinamool Congress earlier said, the lions in the original national emblem were ‘graceful’ while those put atop the new Parliament building were ‘aggressive’. On Tuesday, Union Minister Smriti Irani targeted Trinamool Congress for its criticism and said this was expected from the party that “insults Goddess Kali”.
Courtesy: Business Standard
