Congress attacks BJP over ‘lotus motif’ in new Parliament staff uniform — ‘Why not a peacock?’

While the lotus is the national flower of India, it is also the symbol of the BJP. Latter dismisses criticism, says Congress has ‘hatred for anything which is Bharatiya’.

The new Parliament building from inside in New Delhi | Photo: PTI

New Delhi: A controversy has broken out over the new uniform for Parliament staff, with the Congress crying foul over reports it carries a lotus motif. While the lotus is the national flower of India, it is also the symbol of the BJP.

Senior Congress leader Manickam Tagore questioned why the uniforms weren’t instead embossed with a ‘peacock’, India’s national bird, or national animal ‘tiger’.  “Why lotus only? Why can’t peacock or why can’t tiger? Oh they’re not BJP party election symbol. Why this fall sir @ombirlaota,” said Congress Lok Sabha whip and MP Manickam Tagore in a post on X, tagging Speaker Om Birla.  

Staff in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha will don new uniforms as they move to the new Parliament building next Tuesday, during the special session (18-22 September). 

The staff of the five branches of the Parliament secretariat — reporting, table office, notice office, legislative branch, security — have been assigned uniforms with an “Indian touch”, according to a report in Hindustan Times, which says the uniform for the marshals will change too. 

While women staffers will sport sarees with new designs, the uniform for men reportedly includes cream-coloured jackets, khaki trousers, and shirts with a lotus print. Personnel of both the Houses will wear the same uniform. 

Tagore said the BJP had done the same thing with the G20 symbol under India’s presidency. “In the G20 also we did it and now also we are doing it and then we will say it is a national flower. This kind of pettiness is not right. Hope the BJP grows up and not make the Parliament a one-sided partisan thing,” said Tagore.  

The BJP dismissed the charges and said the lotus is a symbol of India’s cultural heritage. “For them, lotus stands for symbolism, for us it is a cultural symbol. Lotus has been mentioned in our Puranas, Vedas, it is part of the Indian ethos,” said BJP national spokesperson R.P. Singh.

“Rather than celebrating our culture, they are questioning it. They have hatred for anything which is ‘Bharatiya’. They raised hue and cry during G20 also and they are doing this again,” he added. 

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shanker Prasad said Tuesday that whatever happens in the House is the prerogative of the Speaker and the Congress shouldn’t be looking for a controversy everywhere. 

This is an updated version of the report

(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)