Cong slams govt over statues’ relocation within Parl, calls it unilateral move

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday slammed the move to relocate statues within the Parliament premises as “arbitrary and unilateral”, with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying such decisions made without proper discussion are against the rules and traditions of Parliament.

The opposition party has claimed that the idea behind relocating the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji among others is to ensure they are not in a prominent place where the MPs could conduct peaceful and democratic protests. While the Congress criticised the decision to remove the statues from their existing place, the Lok Sabha secretariat said their earlier placement had made it difficult for the visitors to see them properly.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also told reporters that discussions were held from time to time with different stakeholders on the issue and added that “there is no need to indulge in politics on this”.

In a statement on the relocation of statues of major leaders in the Parliament House Complex, Congress president Kharge said removing the statues arbitrarily, without any consultation, violates the basic spirit of democracy.

“The statues of many great leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, have been removed from their prominent places in the Parliament House Complex and relocated to a separate corner. Removing these statues arbitrarily, without any consultation, violates the basic spirit of our democracy,” he said.

There are about 50 such statues or busts throughout the entire Parliament House, he noted.

“The statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were situated in prominent locations and of other major leaders at appropriate locations after due deliberation and consideration.