Om Birla discusses statue relocation in Parliament with stakeholders

Statues of freedom fighters and national icons spread across the Parliament complex have been relocated to a new enclosure on its premises, Prerna Sthal, following discussions with different stakeholders, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Sunday.

The relocation of the statues, he said, were done as part of a landscaping and beautification exercise.

Addressing reporters here, Birla also asserted that discussions were held from time to time with different stakeholders on the relocation of statues as such decisions were within the purview of the Office of the Lok Sabha Speaker.

"None of the statues have been removed, they have been relocated. There is no need to indulge in politics on this," the outgoing speaker said when asked about the opposition criticism on the relocation of the statues.

"From time to time, I have been discussing these issues with different stakeholders. People were of the view that having these statues at one place will help disseminate information about their lives and achievements in a better way," Birla said.

The statues of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar, earlier located at prominent places on the Parliament premises, were places where opposition leaders gathered to protest against the government.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said the whole idea of this relocation and giving it a grandiose name was to ensure that the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Ambedkar were not in a prominent place right in front of Parliament House where MPs could hold peaceful and democratic protests as and when required.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar is inaugurating the Prerna Sthal on Sunday where all members of Parliament have been invited.

Birla said the Prerna Sthal -- located on the lawns between the old Parliament building and the Parliament library building -- will be open to visitors all through the year and host commemoration days to honour the contribution of the leaders to nation building.

The outer lawns of the Parliament complex have statues of national icons such as B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Hemu Kalani, Mahatma Basaveshwara, Kittur Rani Channamma, Motilal Nehru, Maharaj Ranjit Singh, Durga Malla, Birsa Munda, Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, and Chaudhary Devi Lal.

"An action plan has been made to make the life stories and messages of these great Indians available to visitors through new technology," the Lok Sabha speaker said.

Birla said during the construction work of the new Parliament building, the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru and Chaudhary Devi Lal were moved to other places within the complex.

Lawns and gardens have been laid around the statues at the Prerna Sthal to allow visitors to easily pay their tributes to them and also take inspiration from their lives by accessing information using QR codes, Birla said.

Asked about the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) taking over security of the entire Parliament complex, Birla said it was done so that accountability could be fixed on one agency.

Earlier, the Parliament Security Service, the Delhi Police and the Central Reserve Police Force were responsible for the security of the Parliament complex and there was certain overlap in responsibilities, he said.

The Lok Sabha speaker said CISF personnel were being trained on dealing with parliamentarians as the system of Parliament security was different from guarding other premises.