A portrait of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which had been displayed near the Speaker’s chair in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly since 1996, was replaced with a portrait of B R Ambedkar, sparking controversy on the first day of the Winter Session of the House.
The move drew sharp criticism from the Congress party, with former chief minister Kamal Nath calling it “highly condemnable” and his party accusing the BJP of a “conspiracy to change history”.
He welcomed the installation of Ambedkar’s portrait, but argued that it could have been done without removing Nehru’s.
“The removal of the portrait of the great freedom fighter, the country’s first prime minister and nation builder Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly is highly condemnable. I welcome the installation of the portrait of constitution maker Baba Saheb Ambedkar in the Assembly. Baba Saheb’s picture could have been placed at a place of honour in the Assembly, but Pandit Nehru’s portrait was deliberately removed,” Nath said.
He said before elections, he had promised to install a big statue of Ambedkar and if the BJP really wanted to show respect to the Father of the Constitution, it should have done the same instead of showing their narrow mindedness by removing Nehru’s portrait.
The Congress leader demanded Nehru’s portrait be installed with full honour and that construction of Ambedkar’s biggest statue should begin at the earliest.