Opposition Likely to Boycott Inauguration of New Parliament Building by Modi on Sunday

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 22: The Congress and several other opposition parties are planning to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 even as the BJP taunted the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as “cry baby” for raising objections against the task being performed by the prime minister Narendra Modi instead of the President Droupadi Murmu, the first citizen of India.

Even as the several opposition leaders maintained that the government should have invited the president to inaugurate the new Parliament building, the BJP targeted Rahul Gandhi calling his objections as “bad omen” for a good work completed by the Modi government.

“Mr Gandhi ‘starts beating his chest’ whenever there’s a historic moment in the country. Why does this happen? When the country is progressing, he comes forward as a bad omen during auspicious times. He has such small thinking that he can’t welcome such a historic moment when the new Parliament building will become a temple of democracy,” The BJP spokesman Gaurav Bhatia said. His comments was in response to Rahul Gandhi’s statement on Sunday that the President should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister.

Most of the opposition parties had stayed away from the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new Parliament building, also performed by Modi, on December 10, 2020, The opposition then had questioned the timing of the ceremony since a large section of the farmers had laid a seize of Delhi demanding minimum support prices for agricultural produces, the pandemic was raging and the country was experiencing economic distress induced by the lockdown.

Many opposition parties have voiced their criticism over Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building and argued that President should have been invited to open it. Sources in the Congress said the Opposition parties were likely to take a joint stand on whether to attend or stay away.

The Congress has been hardening its stance and at the same time trying to make it nuanced after it came to be known that the new Parliament building was going to be inaugurated on Veer Savarkar’s birth anniversary. Savarkar is a tricky terrain for the Congress given the fact that the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Congress’s ally in Maharashtra, made it clear to the party it would not tolerate any attack on Savarkar. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar too has in the past had advised Congress to refrain from attacking Savarkar.

Criticising the government, Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh tweeted last week: “A complete insult to all our Founding Fathers and Mothers. A total rejection of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, et al. A blatant repudiation of Dr Ambedkar.”

On Sunday, Rahul Gandhi joined the opposition leaders in calling for the new building to be inaugurated by President Murmu and not by the PM. There was no mention of the significance of the day as he waded into the row leaning on the side of the argument on constitutional propriety.

The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday linked the issue with dalits and tribals. “It looks like the Modi Government has ensured the election of President of India from the Dalit and the Tribal communities only for electoral reasons. While former President, Shri Kovind, was not invited to the new Parliament foundation laying ceremony, President of India Smt Droupadi Murmu is not being invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building,” he said.

Parliament, he said, was the supreme legislative body of the republic and the President its highest constitutional authority. “She alone represents the government, Opposition, and every citizen alike. She is the First Citizen of India. The inauguration of the new Parliament building by her will symbolise Government’s commitment to Democratic values and Constitutional propriety. The Modi Government has repeatedly disrespected propriety. The Office of the President of India is reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS government,” he said.

Several other opposition leaders have questioned why Modi inaugurating the Parliament building instead of the President. RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha, CPI leader D Raja, and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi have hit out at the Centre with scathing remarks.

“Obsession with self-image and cameras trumps decency and norms when it comes to Modi Ji,” D Raja said. “He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have separation of powers and Hon’ble Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chair could have inaugurated (it). It’s made with public money, why is PM behaving like his ‘friends’ have sponsored it from their private funds,” Owaisi has said.

Bhatia, however, attacked the Congress pointing out that former Lok Sabha speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar had said we need a new Parliament building. Calling the Congress “useless”, Bhatia said they have a problem even when Modi is making their own dreams come true.

“(Senior Congress leader) Jairam Ramesh had said it too. They were the ones dreaming about it, then they indulged in corruption and can’t get anything finished on the ground, they are so useless; and when Modi makes their dreams come true, because it’s in the interest of the country, even then they start chest-beating,” he said.

Bhatia also said those questioning the date of the inauguration are “inconsequential.” “Veer Savarkar is the pride of every Indian. Those who are questioning the date, tell them that they are inconsequential, not even worth the dust on Veer Savarkar’s feet,” he said.

The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. In the case of a joint sitting of both Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.