Cong: Statues relocated in Parliament to ensure Oppn can’t hold protests

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, and Chhatrapati Shivaji among others have been relocated within Parliament premises to ensure that Opposition parties cannot hold democratic protests, and said such “stunts” cannot save Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “unstable government” from falling.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh termed the Lok Sabha secretariat’s explanation for relocating the statues as “wholly bogus”, and said there has been no discussion with any political party on the matter.

In a statement, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said Thursday that due to their location at different places in the Parliament premises, visitors were not able to see these statues conveniently.

“For this reason, all these statues are being respectfully installed in a grand ‘Prerna Sthal’ in Parliament House premises. This ‘Prerna Sthal’ is being developed in such a way that the visitors coming to visit the Parliament complex view the statues of these great persons conveniently and get inspired by their life experiences,” the statement said.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat had asserted that the Parliament House complex comes under the jurisdiction of the Lok Sabha Speaker and earlier also, statues were shifted inside the complex with the permission of the Speaker.

Slamming the shift of statues, Ramesh said, “Yesterday at 2:30 PM, I had highlighted how the Modi regime was shifting the statues of Chhatrapati Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Ambedkar away from prominent places they now occupy in front of Parliament House.”

Newly-elected Baramati MP Supriya Sule has accused the Centre of insulting the citizens of India by removing the statues of

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi from the Parliament House premises.