New Delhi: Nineteen opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 May.
The opposition, led by the Congress, has accused the BJP-led central government of disrespecting the country’s top constitutional post by not asking President Bharat Draupadi Murmu or Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to inaugurate it.
Announcing their collective decision in a joint statement on Wednesday, the parties said: “When the soul of democracy has been sucked out of Parliament, we find no value in the new building.”
The invitation sent by the Center states that Modi will perform the ceremony in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The program will begin at noon on Sunday.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had already said they would boycott Sunday’s event. They were joined by 16 more parties on Wednesday.
These include Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Janata Dal (United), Communist Party. of India (Marxist) and National Conference among others.
- Party MP K. Keshava Rao said Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi has not taken a decision yet, but he is unlikely to attend.
The opposition’s joint statement also read: “Undemocratic acts are nothing new for the Prime Minister, who has consistently hollowed out Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and silenced for raising issues of the people of India… The new Parliament House was built at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic without consulting the people of India Is. Or the MP, for whom it is apparently being made.”
19 opposition parties issued a joint statement on 28 May to boycott the opening of the new parliament building, saying “when the soul of democracy has been sucked out of parliament, we find no value in the new building.” pic.twitter.com/7p7lk9CNqq
– ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023
Meanwhile, the BJP on Sunday countered criticism over Modi’s role, saying the President is the head of the state, while the prime minister is the head of the government. The PM leads the Parliament on behalf of the government, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, “The President is not a member of either House, while the PM is.”
Official sources in the party told news agency ANI that the first major construction in the Parliament complex took place after 1970.
The foundation stone of the Parliament Annexe Building was laid on August 3, 1970 by the then President VV Giri.
“But the Parliament House Soudha building was finally inaugurated on October 24, 1975, by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “Just four months after imposing emergency, curtailing fundamental rights and ordering the detention of most opposition leaders,” he told ANI. ,
He said that the second major construction in the Parliament complex was in the center of the Prime Minister of that time. He said that on August 15, 1987, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the Parliament Library building.
Incidentally, the Congress had also boycotted the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new building in December 2020. That ceremony was also done by Modi.
Read also: Opposition parties unite to boycott new Parliament inauguration by PM Modi