New Delhi, November 9
The logo for India’s G20 presidency, which depicts a lotus flower, today led to a new war of words with the Congress slamming the Narendra Modi government for “promoting BJP” and the ruling party and government officials hitting back.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Over 70 years ago, (late Prime Minister Jawaharlal) Nehru rejected the proposal to make Congress flag the flag of India. Now, BJP’s election symbol has become official logo for India’s presidency of G20! While shocking, we know by now that Mr Modi and BJP won’t lose any opportunity to promote themselves shamelessly!”
Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser, Ministry of Information amp; Broadcasting, shot back saying, “Over 70 years ago lotus was declared national flower of India when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister. Do you Jairam Ramesh find that ‘shocking’ too? By the way, successive Congress Govts have issued currency coins with the lotus symbol. And the National Emblem stands atop a lotus.”
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also took on the Congress for questioning the use of lotus in G20 logo, saying it was chosen as the national flower during the Congress government. He also called the Congress’ reservations about the usage of the lotus symbol in G20 logo an “insult” to Hinduism as the flower is associated with deities Lakshmi and Saraswati.
Explaining the logo, PM Modi on Tuesday said: “The symbol of the lotus in the G20 logo is a representation of hope in this time. No matter how adverse the circumstances, the lotus still blooms. Even if the world is in a deep crisis, we can still progress and make the world a better place.
“In Indian culture, both the Goddesses of knowledge and prosperity are seated on a lotus. This is what the world needs most today. Shared knowledge that helps us overcome our circumstances. Shared prosperity that reaches the last person at the last milehellip; This is why, in the G20 logo, the Earth is placed on a lotus too.”
