edited by: Oindrila Mukherjee
Last Update: February 13, 2023, 09:15 IST
Design of the newly constructed Secretariat of Telangana. (Image: News18)
Weighing in on the controversy triggered by Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s threat to demolish the Telangana Secretariat, the architects say that domes were introduced by the Romans, an influential element to act as roofs for their massive buildings wanted to
Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has stoked a fresh controversy when he said he would demolish the newly constructed secretariat if the party is voted to power in the state. He said the domes of the building remind him of the Taj Mahal and the structures reflect the culture of the Nizams.
The BJP leader claimed that the domes were built to appease AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and promised that if the saffron party came to power, it would renovate the secretariat to “reflect the culture of Telangana”.
But the domes, part of buildings such as the Supreme Court and the Rashtrapati Bhavan, are exclusively Islamic structures, although some ancient temples have them.
Highlighting the issue, architect Pingali Naga Praveen said: “It is the Romans who introduced domes in architecture. They wanted an imposing element to act as a roof for their massive buildings. Islamic architecture borrowed those elements for visual aesthetics. The outlines of these domes are different.
Explaining the significance of the design of domes, he said: “Domes are generally seen as symbols of power as they raise the scale of scenes to a level of greater grandeur. It acts as a capping element for a building.” It is also used as a dome which can be seen with the sky as a background. The Deccan region is replete with such domes. So their coming to the Secretariat building is nothing special.”
Commenting on Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s remarks, conservation architect GSV Suryanarayana Murthy said: “Criticism can be made on architecture at any time and by anyone… buildings. Domes are indeed a part of Indian architecture.”
In addition to this controversy, the design of the Secretariat has been criticized by some architects. The architects of the building, Oscar and Ponni Architects, have stated that the architectural style of the Secretariat is predominantly classical Deccan Kakatiya. He has cited the Neelkantheshwar Temple, the Hanuman Temple in Salangpur and the Wanaparthi Palace as design inspirations.
“The new design is poor to the core in terms of scale and aesthetics. The architects named it Deccan Kakatiya. Only they can tell what exactly it means,” said Praveen.
Another architect took to Twitter with another perspective. He shared a side profile of the building and wrote: “New Secretariat side by side. It seems that the patrons and architects were so impressed with the height of the front and rear, they forgot what it would look like from the side! No classical building has two major domes of equal size – perhaps their intention was to create a strange world here in the first place! (sic)”
Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy has called upon people to break the doors of Pragathi Bhavan where the poor cannot enter. Responding to these comments by political rivals, MAUD minister and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao had said: “One person said he will demolish Pragati Bhavan and the other is saying he will demolish the Secretariat . We talk about laying the foundation, they talk about digging graves. I tell all my friends to think about the consequences if the state falls into the hands of these anarchic forces.”
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