On Thursday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri strongly criticized the Congress for raising objections to the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He warned that the opposition party’s opposition to such events would undoubtedly “fade into oblivion.”
“…I find it very difficult to have an intelligent conversation with them (Congress) on that…They say something else when they meet us and something entirely different for public consumption. I think they are slowly but surely ensuring they will fade into oblivion….” Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.”Agar unhone Parliament banaya hota toh innagurate kar sakte the na? (If they had built the Parliament they could have inaugurated it), questioned Hardeep.
The union minister had mentioned a day earlier in a news conference in the national capital that then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the Parliament Annexe in August 1975, and subsequently, in 1987, PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library. “If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can’t our head of government do the same?” Hardeep Singh Puri asked.
He termed that the root cause behind boycott of the inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building was “both gross and misrepresentation of the nature of the occasion.”
“…You are celebrating India the mother of democracies the largest democracy, now the fifth largest economy in the world going in the direction of the third-largest economy in the world and you want to disassociate yourself from that? You are disassociating yourself from India, what is Indian civilization, culture and democracy,” Puri told.
BJP leaders slam Opposition parties for boycotting New Parliament inauguration
Union Minister RK Singh also lambasted the opposition parties’ decision to skip the inauguration of the new Parliament building. “These people (opposition) have no validation for the sanctity of the Parliament…they have boycotted the President’s address numerous times. They have constantly been disrupting the Parliament…they have no respect for the Parliament. This is a great occasion for the country and the opposition is playing divisive politics,” Singh said while talking about the boycott of the new Parliament inauguration.
Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, also stated that the Congress had proceeded with the inauguration of the Parliament Annexe by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “It is being said that the President should inaugurate the new Parliament building, so why it didn’t come up when Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe?” Asked Fadanvis.
The Union Finance Minister said in Chennai that the Opposition parties should reconsider their decision to boycott the opening of the new Parliament building. “It’s a temple of democracy, even the PM entered the Parliament by bowing on its steps. I humbly request and appeal (to the Opposition), kindly re-think, change your stand and participate in the ceremony,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Several Opposition parties including Congress have decided to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the newly built Parliament building. According to the Opposition parties PM Modi’s decision to inaugurate the building without President Droupadi Murmu “insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution”.
According to the statement issued by the opposition parties, the new Parliament building has been constructed “at great expense during a once-in-a-century pandemic with no consultation with the people of India or MPs, for whom it is apparently being built.”
On December 10, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament Building.
