Back‘Depicts Ashokan empire’: Govt on 'Akhand Bharat' mural in new Parliament
The development came as many BJP leaders shared the picture of the mural installed in the newly inaugurated Parliament of India and some Nepal leaders objected to it
PremiumThe Union Government on Saturday reacted to the objections raised by some leaders of Nepal over the mural installed in the new Parliament building. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the mural in question depicts the “spread of the Ashokan empire and its people-centric".
The development came as many BJP leaders shared the picture of the mural installed in the newly inaugurated Parliament of India. The BJP leaders claimed that the mural depicts 'Akhand Bharat'. The objections of Nepal leaders came as the mural include Takshashila (presently in Pakistan) and Lumbini (in Nepal).
The mural depicts the empire of Ashoka, one of the most cherished kings in Indian history. Ashoka was the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty and at its peak, his empire stretched from Afghanistan to Bangladesh.
"The controversial mural of ‘Akhand Bharat’ in the recently inaugurated new Parliament building of India may stoke unnecessary and harmful diplomatic row in the neighborhood including Nepal. It has the potential of further aggravating the trust deficit already vitiating the bilateral relations between most of the immediate neighbors of India. It would be prudent for Indian political leadership to unravel and communicate in time the real intent and ramification of this mural episode," former Prime Minister of Nepal Baburam Bhattarai tweeted.
Another former Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli also objected to the mural and told The Kathmandu Post that the installation of the 'Akhand Bharat' mural in the Indian Parliament "was not fair".
The timing also bears significance as currently sitting Nepal Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal "Prachanda" is on a visit to India and also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. India and Nepal Prime Minister vowed the deepen the ties between the two nations with PM Modi affirming that India will take the relationship with Nepal to Himalayan heights.
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