At least 19 Opposition parties said that they will boycott the inaugural ceremony of new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.
The opposition parties have denounced plans by PM Modi to inaugurate the new parliament, instead of President Droupadi Murmu, to make a political statement ahead of next year’s general polls.
Many also criticised scheduling the event on the birth anniversary of VD Savarkar, the Hindutva ideologue who was allegedly a part of Mahatma Gandhi assassination, and who had pledged lifelong fealty to the British after prolonged incarceration.
The Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the CPI and CPI(M), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal-United (JDU), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction, JMM, VCK, RLD, IUML, National Conference, RSP, Kerala Congress (M) and MDMK said on Wednesday that they will not be part of the event.
“Prime Minister Modi’s decision to inaugurate the new parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy… This undignified act insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President,” read the joint statement by the opposition parties.
They went on to say: “Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India… When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the parliament, we find no value in a new building.”
