A controversy erupted on the second day of Madhya Pradesh Assembly’s winter session as the Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of replacing a portrait of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with a portrait of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar on one side behind the Speaker’s chair.
On the other side behind the Speaker’s chair is a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi which remains in its place.
In a letter to pro-tem Speaker Gopal Bhargava, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar said that Nehru’s portrait had been in place since the formation of the Assembly and claimed that it had now been removed without any reason.
Welcoming the move of putting up the portrait of Ambedkar, Mr. Singhar, however, said that the government’s intention for removing Nehru’s portrait was “beyond understanding”.
“Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar all of them changed the face of the nation but your ideology has changed their picture only. Today, your ideology is playing with the respect of these great men,” he wrote, requesting him to ensure that Nehru’s portrait is put back in its place along with Ambedkar’s.
‘Why so much hate for a great man?’
Meanwhile, newly-appointed State Congress president Jitu Patwari said that Nehru was the leader of nation building.
“What is this politics of removing his portrait? What so much hate for a great man who spent years in jail and sacrificed his everything for the country,” he asked, saying that Ambedkar’s portrait could have been placed along with those of Nehru and Gandhi’s.
“[By doing this], the BJP has challenged the idea of [former PM] Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had gotten a Nehru portrait installed back in the Parliament,” he said, speaking to reporters in Ujjain before arriving in Bhopal to take his charge.
Speaking to The Hindu, Principal Secretary, M.P. Legislative Assembly, Awadhesh Pratap Singh, said that the portrait had been replaced in July itself during the 15th Assembly as it had been really old.
“The then Speaker [Girish Gautam] had conducted an inspection of the portraits and had instructed the PWD department [which handles the maintenance of the Assembly premises] to replace all old portraits,” he said, adding that Nehru’s portrait had then been respectfully kept in the Nehru-Gandhi section in the library.
“They [the Congress] might not have noticed it back then [during the last monsoon session] as it was towards the end of the short-duration session,” he said.
When asked if there were any plans to put Nehru’s portrait back, Mr. Singh said that it was under the Speaker’s jurisdiction and the new Speaker, following Wednesday’s election, would decide on this.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bhargava said that no such order in this regard was given by him as it had happened during the 15th Assembly.
“We will place the matter before a special committee of the House which will take a decision on the matter,” he said.
