Patna, May 26 (IANS): At a time when the ruling party at the Centre is gearing up for the inauguration of the new Parliament House on May 28, the Janata Dal (United) on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted the rejected design for the building.
Neeraj Kumar, the MLC and chief spokesperson of the party said: "The first design of the current Parliament House was drawn by Harbart Baker. Initially, he suggested a triangular shape for it which was rejected by the then governor general of India as he wanted the structure to reflect the Indian culture and tradition. Then, Baker and Advin Lutiuns came up with a design inspired by the Chausath Yogini temple in Madhya Pradesh's Morena, which was circular in shape. Hence the current Parliament is circular".
"I want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah as to why they adopt the rejected design. BJP leaders are claimed to be biggest followers of Sanatan Dharma then why they have constructed the new Parliament building in triangular shape. Why is it not in circular shape which is a symbol of temples in majority of the places in India especially in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The circular shape also stands for continuity. Making a triangular shaped Parliament is an insult to Sanatan Dharma," Kumar said.
"More importantly, the contract for the construction of the new Parliament building was given to Vimal Patel, a native of Gujarat. The Narendra Modi government had also given Padma Shri award to him. I want to ask the Modi government to throw some light on the track record of Vimal Patel in the field of construction. If he is such a recognised personality in the construction field, why has he not bagged contracts from other states?" Kumar asked.
The Narendra Modi government has not given the details of the central hall of the new Parliament. The current building houses a central hall where members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can sit together. The speech of the President takes place in the central hall. If the central hall is not in the new building then what is the motive of such a move?" Kumar asked.
"The opposition parties are objecting to the inauguration of a new parliament house by PM Narendra Modi and BJP leaders are saying that various chief ministers have inaugurated the buildings of Vidhan Mandal in different states. I want to point out that the comparison of the country's president with state governors is not right. The President is an elected person. He/she is elected by the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Sabha while governors are nominated officials by the central government," Kumar said.
"We have a president who belongs to a tribal community and Narendra Modi and Amit Shah believe that she is an 'untouchable'. Hence, they have not invited Draupadi Murmu to inaugurate the new Parliament House. It is an insult to the entire women community, tribal community, Dalit, Maha Dalit, extremely backward caste and other backward castes," he said.