New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar in his letter to Union housing and urban affairs minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, has said that the national emblem is not an area where "human error or artistic license" is permitted.

Amid controversy over the ferocious makeover of the four lions which form part of the Ashok Stambh, Sircar urged the minister to undertake computerised check to rectify "distortions" in the national emblem perched atop the new parliament building.

"The rather belligerent posture that the lions in the new sculpture appear to portray has not been missed by many. There are several deviations from the orignal Sarnath model and these could easily be proved by comparision of accurate 3D images," Sircar said in his letter.

The Rajya Sabha MP also hit out at the government, which recently responded to the controversy by saying that the distortion is only due to the fact that it is being viewed from the ground level. "But, all citizens (expect a very few select ones) will have to view the national emblem from the ground level – with all these consequent deviations," he said.

He also alleged that expert opinion was not sought by the government in the process of erecting the national emblem atop parliament building.

"Architechture is an outstanding discipline and could perhaps minimise these 'perspective distortions'. It appears such expert advice was not sought by your officials nor did the small group of experts, handpicked by you, offer to rectify this," he added.

Sircar also posed a number of questions to the government. "We also seek to know the details of the process of selecting the artist, the brief given and the cost of the said work. Has this contributed in raising the original estimated cost of Rs 975 crore to the currently estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore?

Moreover, did the proposal to install this sculpture specifically received sanction from the Delhi Urban Art Commission, and the Heritage Conservation Committee, mandated by the Supreme Court order of 06 Jan 2021 regarding the New Parliament Building? Were they shown computer generated views (like you shared for Central Vista Redevelopment Project) of this sculpture from near and afar? if yes, when?"

India’s national emblem owes its origins to the Lion Capital perched atop the Ashok Pillar in Uttar Pradesh’s Sarnath. In 1950, when India became Republic, the country adopted the Lion Capital as its emblem. The Lion Capital depicts four Asiatic lions sitting next to one another on a cylindrical base with four Ashok Chakras carved on it. The lions represent courage, pride, power and confidence.

The national emblem perched atop new parliament building ran into controversy with opposition accusing the government of giving a menacing look to the sculpture with "muscular, aggressive” lions and insulting the symbol.

However, the government and the BJP hit back at the opposition, saying that it was yet another "conspiracy" to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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