Statue relocation in parliament offers ammo to Opposition
Image credit X @JawaharSircar
Shashi Tharoor alleges executive usurping power of parliament
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 15: Ahead of the upcoming parliament session, the Opposition is sighting the executive stepping on toes of the legislature. The statues of India’s icons have been shifted to ‘Prerna Sthal’, while the Congress is alleging that the codified norms have been ignored.
The Congress communication department chief, Jairam Ramesh, claimed that several of the MPs of the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have also been angry at the shifting of the statues of the icons of India. Ramesh said: “India should and will take up the issue when parliament reconvenes.”
The Opposition MPs are up in arms against shifting of the statues to ‘Prerna Sthal’. The Opposition alleges that the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, and others have been shifted to insignificant location.
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“Aside from the obvious political motives for what the Government has done, there is the additional question of whether it has the right to do it,” posted the Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
The Lok Sabha secretariat in a statement had said that the statues were relocated to help the visitors see them conveniently. But the statue of Mahatma Gandhi right in front of the entrance of old parliament building had been the venue of the Opposition protests.
“Parliament is a sovereign organ in the Constitution, on a par with the executive. It is the property of Members. There is supposed to be a committee on statues and portraits which decides on these matters,” added Tharoor.
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The Congress MP also asserted that the “committee has not been reconstituted for years now, even though you can see its mandate on the Lok Sabha website. Who is deciding on all these matters in its absence?”
Tharoor argued that the “executive has no right to do so. Ideally the new House and Committee should have discussed this proposal and made a decision”.
“The Government has usurped the prerogatives of Parliament in making this move,” added Tharoor.
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