"Modi ji, 140 crore Indians want to know what do you want to express by taking away the right of the President of India to inaugurate the Parliament House?" said the Congress president
Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Stepping up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the Congress on Thursday said, “one man’s ego and desire for self-promotion” has denied the first tribal woman president her constitutional privilege to inaugurate the complex.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that the Central government’s “arrogance has destroyed the parliamentary system”.
In a direct address to the Prime Minister, Kharge said in a tweet in Hindi: “Modi ji, Parliament is the temple of democracy established by the people. The office of His Excellency the President is the first part of Parliament. The arrogance of your government has destroyed the parliamentary system. 140 crore Indians want to know what do you want to express by taking away the right of the President of India to inaugurate the Parliament House?”
Kharge’s remarks came a day after 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, jointly announced to boycott the inauguration.
“When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building and announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building,” the parties said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, the ruling YSR Congress Party of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal have announced their participation in the event.
One man’s ego
Congress General secretary Jairam Ramesh in a tweet said, “Yesterday, President Draupadi Murmu inaugurated the country’s largest judicial campus at the Jharkhand High Court complex in Ranchi. It is one man’s ego and desire for self-promotion that has denied the first Adivasi woman President her Constitutional privilege to inaugurate the new Parliament building in New Delhi on May 28th. Ashoka the Great, Akbar the Great, Modi the Inaugrate.”
Murmu, who is on a visit to Jharkhand on Wednesday, inaugurated the new building of the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi.
Meanwhile, the NDA in a statement slammed the opposition parties saying the decision to boycott the inauguration was a “blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation”. — With agency inputs