New Delhi: The TMC, the CPI and the AAP on Tuesday announced they will skip the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on May 28 and more Opposition parties, including the Congress, are likely to join them.
Amid demands that the President should inaugurate the new building, leaders of like-minded Opposition parties deliberated on the issue and a joint statement by the floor leaders on a united boycott of the event may be issued soon, sources said.
Announcing the party’s decision, TMC’s leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien wrote on Twitter: “Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules — it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesn’t get that. For him, Sunday’s inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out.”
CPI general secretary D Raja also said his party will not attend the ceremony.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh tweeted: “Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a great insult to her. This is also an insult to the tribals. The Aam Aadmi party will boycott the inauguration function in protest of Modi ji not inviting the President.”
The CPI(M) also accused Modi of “bypassing” the President for not just laying the foundation stone for the new Parliament building but also by inaugurating it himself.
“Modi bypassed the President when the foundation stone for the new Parliament building was laid. Now too at the inauguration. Unacceptable. Constitution Art 79: ‘There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses’.
“Only when the President of India summons the Parliament can it meet. The President begins, annually, Parliamentary functioning by addressing the joint session. The first business Parliament transacts each year is the ‘Motion of Thanks’ to President’s Address,” party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.
Soon after the MPs started receiving soft copies of the invitation, they got into a huddle to discuss the issue.
The opposition sources indicated that most of the parties are of the view that they should unitedly skip the ceremony, and a final decision on the issue will be announced soon. Sources said a joint statement by all the floor leaders of like-minded parties will be issued soon to announce a united boycott of the event. Meanwhile, political slugfest over the inauguration issue continued with Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri slamming the Congress for lacking “national spirit and sense of pride” in India’s progress and the opposition party accusing him of trying to “obfuscate and dissimulate”.
Addressing reporters, Puri said the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe building on October 24, 1975 and successor Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation of the Parliament library on August 15, 1987.
“If your head of government can inaugurate Parliament annexe and library then why can’t the head of the government of this time do? It’s as simple as that,” he said.
Puri’s remarks came a day after the Congress accused the government of disrespecting constitutional propriety and demanded that President Droupadi Murmu inaugurate the new Parliament building, instead of Modi.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “SUV-Self-Usurped Vishwaguru-has already annexe-d the Parliament for self-aggrandisement. But surely, there is a fundamental difference between inaugurating an Annexe where officials work and a library which is hardly used on the one hand, and inaugurating not just the Temple of Democracy but its sanctum sanctorum itself.”
Hitting back at Puri, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari alleged that the minister is trying to “obfuscate and dissimulate”.
“Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, I am afraid, is trying to obfuscate and dissimulate. There is a difference between an annexe to the Parliament, library and a new Parliament building,” he said in a tweet.
“By the way, Chairperson of the Council of States Vice President of India is also conspicuous by his absence on the invitation card,” he added.
Congress’ head of media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said on Twitter: “Hon’ble Minister needs to be told there’s a difference between Parliament Annexe and the Parliament. I hope he has been attending sessions in the right building and not the library or the Annexe.”
“Is this the level of intellect in Modi Ji’s cabinet or this is Bhakti Ki Shakti,” he asked.
Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.