Parliament statues relocated to ensure they are not in prominent place for MPs to protest: Congress

The Congress on Friday claimed that the idea behind relocating statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji among others within Parliament premises is to ensure that they are not in a prominent place where MPs could conduct peaceful and democratic protests. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared on X a circular issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat stating that a ceremony will take place at on Sunday at 6:30 PM in the Parliament House Estate to inaugurate the newly-created 'Prerna Sthal'.

In the statement, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said last week that due to the location of statues 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.


In his post tagging the circular, Ramesh said on Friday, "The whole idea of this relocation and giving it a grandiose name is to ensure that the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar are not in a prominent place right in front of Parliament House where MPs could conduct peaceful and democratic protests as and when required - and with the Modi regime they are required very frequently, almost on a daily basis."

The Congress had last week also alleged that the statues 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.