'Hot-button' Issue: Congress Pans Lotus Motif on New Uniforms of Parliament Staff ahead of Special Session

The new Parliament building will not just witness renewed politics between the INDIA front and the government but will also see new uniforms for members of the staff. The outfits have been designed keeping in mind both utility and are also inspired by India’s culture and heritage, said officials.

Made of khadi, the basic colour of the uniforms, for both male and female employees, is beige and rust. On the shirts and pinned to the sarees is a lotus motif. The marshals will also have a headgear, which is white and gold. The uniforms have been designed by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).

The dresses, however, like the building, have now become mired in politics. The Congress has objected to the lotus motif, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of pushing its symbol and trying to usurp the new Parliament building.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore hit out at the move on social media.

Government sources, however, dismiss these allegations as merely petty. In fact, when the new building was inaugurated, the opposition parties, especially the Congress, objected to the use of the sengol, as well as peacock and lotus motifs on the building. The government had then said that the lotus is India’s national flower and the peacock the national bird, so why the fuss?

The opposition boycotted the Bhoomi Pujan of the new building, saying it was wasteful expenditure in post-Covid times. The parties also skipped the inauguration on the grounds that the BJP and the government were disrespecting the President by not allowing her to lad the ceremony.

The special session of Parliament, which is to take place in the new building from September 18 to 22, has become acrimonious even before it’s begun. The opposition is pushing the government on why the agenda of the session is being kept a secret. The uniforms have stoked the flames, with the INDIA front accusing the government of a cover-up.