Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled the national emblem that has been placed atop the new Parliament building. The emblem is made of bronze and is 6.5m in height. After the emblem was unveiled a controversy arose about the facial expressions of the four lions. Sunil Deore, the sculptor of the National Emblem admitted that there may be minor changes, mostly because of the damages to the original.

Sculptor Sunil Deore who was in charge of the project said that there were minor changes in the emblem but the maximum, 99 percent, is as per the Ashokan symbol.

Sunil Deore said due to the viewing angle, the expressions of the lions appeared aggressive and their mouths looked bigger. He said the lions would appear normal to the general public when viewed from a distance. He further added, "The photograph is out of zoom. The lower angle is changing the expression."

He explained that no one influenced him during the making of the national emblem.

Sunil Deore asserted, "As an artist, we have conducted research going to the museum. We have only enlarged the original, which is 2.5 feet. In such cases, everything gets magnified. You have to think of that. And this sculpture we will see from parliament, at least 100 meters away. So we had to have to emphasise the details so that they look similar even from a distance."

"Like we said, you are going to view it from a very, very great distance. So all of that has been kept in mind and as such, there is no deviation in the piece that you see…. At eye level, the outline will match the emblem," added his colleague Romel Moses.

Reacting to receiving the project directly from the government, he said, "I did not receive the contract directly from the government. I was given the contract by Tata Project Limited."

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