Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that not getting President Droupadi Murmu to inaugurate the new Parliament building and not even inviting her to the ceremony was “an insult to the country’s highest constitutional post”.
In a tweet, Gandhi, said, “Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor inviting her to the ceremony is an insult to the country’s highest constitutional post. Parliament is not built by bricks of ego, but of constitutional values.”
PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Gandhi’s remarks came shortly after 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC), decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament complex by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out of Parliament.
Earlier on Sunday, Gandhi had called for the President to inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister.
Assam CM slams Opposition parties
Meanwhile, taking a swipe at the 19 Opposition parties who have announced their decision to boycott the inauguration ceremony, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said “they never thought that the construction will be completed so soon.”
PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new parliament building on December 10, 2020. The new building has been built in record time with quality construction, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had earlier said.
Around 60,000 Shram Yogis (labourers), who built the new Parliament complex, will be honoured by PM Modi on Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told reporters on Wednesday.
Sarma also claimed that the Opposition was “enacting the drama of boycott” to “save their face.”
“So, everything has happened like a bouncer for the Opposition. Just to save their face, they are enacting the drama of boycott… Parliament House will open on the day associated with Veer Savarkar. That might be another reason for them to oppose or boycott the function,” news agency ANI quoted the Assam CM as saying.