At the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the new Parliament building on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the building would "witness India becoming atmanirbhar (self-reliant)".
The Central Vista project, of which the new Parliament is a key part, has been a major project of the Narendra Modi government. Not surprisingly, it has been opposed bitterly by opposition parties such as the Congress.
The current Parliament, built by the British, was inaugurated in 1927.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh was seemingly not impressed by the design for the new Parliament. Ramesh tweeted it bore an "eerie likeness" to the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense's headquarters.
Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha MP, tweeted, "Well, the existing Parliament building built by the Brits bears a remarkable similarity to the Chausath Yogini Temple in Morena in Madhya Pradesh, while the new ‘atmanirbhar’ Parliament building bears an eerie likeness to the Pentagon in Washington DC."
Manish Tewari, a Congress Lok Sabha MP, tweeted, “Why has the new Parliament building been modelled on the Pentagon ? Coincidence -deliberate or default?”
However, Ramesh himself was questioned by some Twitter users who pointed out the proposed Parliament had a triangular shape.
For instance, Savio Rodrigues, the editor of Goa Chronicle, tweeted, "Jairam, it is my honest advice because you are normally intelligent, please get your eyes checked. Pentagon is a Pentagon structure, in what way does the new Parliament building look like a Pentagon. In fact, the structure is more in keeping with our Vedic structures."
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The Congress party's opposition to the new Parliament extends to more than just aesthetics. Senior Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, "Dear PM, Parliament is not mortar & stones, It envisions Democracy, It imbibes Constitution, It is Economic-Political-Social Equality, It is Compassion & Camaraderie, It is aspirations of 130 Cr Indians. What would a building built upon trampling of these values represent?"
The Congress party's official Twitter handle alleged the Modi government's decision to build a new Parliament stemmed from "deep-seated insecurity". The Congress tweeted, "This desperate desire to build bigger & scream louder comes from a deep-seated insecurity that one will never live up to great leaders & govts of the past that helped mould the incredible democracy being torn apart today."
