Religious motifs like the swastika and trishul (trident) have found their way on to the white, yellow and orange flower elephants and other animals that have been installed at many vantage points in the Capital, the Rail Bhawan roundabout being one of them.
While some questioned the logic behind using religious symbols on exhibits being put up for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan due to start on October 2, the authorities insisted that the likes of the calf elephant, seen holding a garland with its trunk, had only been decorated this way for aesthetics and nothing else.
This young elephant is one among 16 different animals that the New Delhi Municipal Council has placed across Central Delhi in preparation for Gandhi Jayanthi on Thursday. Yet, the civic body maintained that the use of religious symbols on this particular flower decoration is just for “aesthetic value and nothing else”.
“It was just the artist’s interpretation and was done as a beautiful decoration,” said a senior official at the NDMC’s Horticulture Department.
Apart from flower decorations shaped as animals, there are four flower fountains and two special flower arrangements outside the Hyderabad House. “On Wednesday, we will install 72 flower boards in different locations, which will show Mahatma Gandhi in different poses. For instance, going on the Dandi March and so on,” said the official.
