‘Arbitrary, atrocious’: Relocation of Gandhi, Ambedkar statues in Parliament triggers political row

Opposition leaders on Thursday said that the decision to relocate the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji within the Parliament complex was “arbitrary” and “atrocious”.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh first raised the issue on social media.

“Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar have just been removed from their places of prominence in front of the Parliament House,” Ramesh said in a post on X. “This is atrocious.”

Following this, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said that the statutes of the “great leaders and freedom fighters of the country were installed at different parts of the complex”, reported ANI. They were now being “respectfully installed in a grand Prerana Sthal [site of inspiration] in the Parliament House complex itself”.

“After the construction of the new Parliament Building, an action plan has been made for landscaping and beautification of the Parliament complex,” said the secretariat.

It said that visitors were unable to view several statues conveniently due to their location at different places in the complex. It said that the Prerana Sthal was “being developed in such a way that the visitors coming to visit the Parliament complex could easily see the statues of these great leaders and take inspiration from their lives and philosophy”.

Responding to the secretariat’s...

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