A statue of India’s national emblem, unveiled this week atop the country’s new parliament, has been slammed by government critics for its “unnecessarily aggressive” appearance.
Officials maintain that the 10-ton bronze sculpture, which depicts four lions, is an enlarged like-for-like replica of the ancient statue the emblem was modeled on. But opponents were quick to suggest that the creatures had been given intentionally “snarling” expressions and sharpened teeth, describing the alleged move as a symbol of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s politics.
The 21-foot-high statue was unveiled Monday at an inauguration ceremony in New Delhi attended by Modi, who partook in a prayer at the site. The Indian prime minister later posted a video of the event, as well as footage of him meeting laborers involved in building the soon-to-open parliament.
Located on the roof of India’s new parliament building, the statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Credit: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty Images
The statue is based on a 3rd-century BCE sandstone sculpture known as “Lion Capital of Ashoka”, which was erected on a pillar by the Emperor Ashoka at Sarnath, in present-day Uttar Pradesh.
Following India’s independence from Great Britain in 1947, a two-dimensional rendering of the statue — featuring three of the lions, with the fourth obscured from view — was adopted as the State Emblem of India. Today, it features on official government letterheads, as well as the country’s passports and currency.
Critics have suggested that other depictions of the national emblem, such as this one in Mumbai, have a more benevolent appearance. Credit: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
Senior government minister Hardeep Singh Puri, meanwhile attributed alleged differences to the new statue’s larger size and height, arguing that the ancient original “would look as calm or angry” if viewed from below.
“If you check its proportions and the proportions of my lion, it has been enlarged exactly,” he said, before claiming: “My brief was to create a replica of the (original) sculpture.
A different statue, also depicting the State Emblem of India, pictured outside the country’s Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs in 2018. Credit: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Deore also denied suggestions that anyone had asked him to enlarge the mouth or make the lions appear angrier.
But the criticisms leveled against Modi’s government were not solely about the lions’ appearance.
Some opponents saw Modi’s involvement in Monday’s inauguration ceremony — especially in the absence of opposition leaders — as breaching the constitution’s separation of legislative and executive powers. Others considered Modi’s prayer offering as inappropriate, given that he was opening a secular national building.
Supporters of the project have argued that the current parliament is unfit for purpose. The building’s architect, Bimal Patel, told CNN last year: “We need to improve the technology, we need space for dining, we need to create toilets, we need to create storage space, and office and administration space — it’s very clear that it can’t be done in the space available.”
Top image: A worker walks past the newly inaugurated statue on the roof of the new Indian parliament building in New Delhi on July 12, 2022.
