A major controversy erupted on the first day of the winter session of the newly-elected Madhya Pradesh Assembly after a portrait of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was replaced with that of Dr BR Ambedkar behind the Speaker’s chair in the House.
It is important to note that originally there were two posters behind the Assembly Speaker’s chair – one was of Mahatma Gandhi and the other was of Jawaharlal Nehru. However, on the opening of the 16th Madhya Pradesh Assembly, it was noticed that the portrait of Nehru was swapped Dr BR Ambedkar’s portrait.
Following the change, Congress MLAs started protesting against the newly-formed BJP government in the state and accused the saffron party of “conspiring to change history”. They argued that they had no problem with the poster of Ambedkar, but BJP shouldn’t have replaced the poster of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Congress Attacks BJP Government
Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti strongly criticised the BJP over the move and said that the removal of Jawaharlal Nehru’s portrait was wrong. “If the BJP continues to think like this, they will replace Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar’s portrait with Nathuram Godse’s poster soon,” he said.
“Both Nehru and Ambedkar are supreme leaders, their portraits should have been displayed in the assembly. It is wrong to remove Jawaharlal Nehru’s photo. The way the Bharatiya Janata Party is thinking now, in the future, it seems that they will remove the portraits of both the great men and replace them with Nathuram Godse’s portrait,” the Congress leader added.
‘Decision Taken in Previous Tenure’: Pro-tem Speaker
Responding on the issue of removal of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s portrait from Madhya Pradesh’s Legislative Assembly, Pro-tem Speaker Gopal Bhargava said that the decision was taken during the previous tenure of the state government.
“All this happened during the last tenure. Former PM Jawaharlal Nehru and BR Ambedkar are supreme leaders, there is equal respect for all. There is a special committee regarding this in the secretariat of the Assembly, and whatever decision will be taken by it will be followed,” the Pro-tem Speaker was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, responding on the controversy, Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla said that Congress should welcome the government’s move to put Ambedkar’s portrait and should not oppose it. However, he added that the Secretariat will decide an appropriate place to put up former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s portrait in the Assembly.
“Putting up Ambedkar’s portrait should be welcomed and Congress should not talk about it like this. The secretariat will definitely decide an appropriate place to put up former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s portrait,” Shukla added.
(With inputs from ANI)
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