PM unveils National Emblem: questions arise about its design

On Monday, PM Modi unveiled the cast of the national emblem on top of the new Parliament building amid Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh. He also attended a religious ceremony at the site.

Opposition parties accused the center like the Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Trinamool Congress, and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen of defacing the national emblem and substituting threatening, aggressive lions for the graceful and regal Ashokan lions. They claimed that the Prime Minister disregarded constitutional requirements by excluding them from the ceremony.

Senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan commented on the lions, calling them a representative of "Modi’s new India." He stated that the lions in the emblem have been sitting majestically and peacefully since the reign of Gandhi Ghose. The new national logo shows angry, bare-fanged lions, which represent Modi’s new India.

Among other objections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said the national emblem unveiled atop the new Parliament building was created in the "Amrit Kaal," and its lions represent destruction as they are shown to swallow everything.

Responding to allegations, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said people need to pay heed to the angle, height, and scale when comparing the two structures. "If one looks at the Sarnath emblem from below, it will look as calm or angry as the one being discussed," he explained in a series of tweets and images.

He asserted that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and that the assumption of calm or anger is subjective. The new emblem stands at 6.5 meters in height, he added. The Bharatiya Janata Party has called the Opposition’s criticism politically motivated, saying that it's unfortunate that opposition parties have come out with unfounded allegations against the national emblem.

According to reports, the vast national emblem's imprint was made over more than nine months by more than a hundred artists and artisans from different regions. According to authorities, the coat of arms underwent eight production phases, from concept sketches and clay modeling through computer graphics, bronze casting, and polishing.