With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to inaugurate the new Parliament building, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Sunday said that the President should be inaugurating the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister.
नए संसद भवन का उद्घाटन राष्ट्रपति जी को ही करना चाहिए, प्रधानमंत्री को नहीं!
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2023
In a statement last Thursday, the Lok Sabha secretariat announced that PM Modi would inaugurate the structure on May 28. “Construction of the New Parliament Building is complete now and the new building symbolises the spirit of self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat,” the Lok Sabha statement said.
Earlier too, members of Opposition parties had asked why the prime minister would inaugurate the building, with RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha saying, “Shouldn’t the honorable @rashtrapatibhvn be inaugurating the new ‘Sansad Bhavan’? I leave it at that…Jai Hind.”
Shouldn’t the honorable @rashtrapatibhvn be inaugurating the new ‘Sansad Bhavan’ ? I leave it at that…Jai Hind
— Manoj Kumar Jha (@manojkjhadu) May 18, 2023
CPI leader D Raja hit out at PM Modi saying, “Obsession with self-image and cameras trumps decency and norms when it comes to Modi Ji.” He tweeted, “PM leads the executive organ of the state and Parliament is the legislative organ. It would have been appropriate for Smt. Droupadi Murmu as Head of the State to inaugurate the new Parliament.”
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had also raised questions over PM Modi inaugurating the Parliament building. “He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have separation of powers and Hon’ble Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chair could have inaugurated (it). It’s made with public money, why is PM behaving like his ‘friends’ have sponsored it from their private funds,” Owaisi said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, with May 28 also being the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, Congress had earlier censured the Narendra Modi-led government, calling the move a “complete insult” to the country’s founding fathers.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter, “A complete insult to all our Founding Fathers and Mothers. A total rejection of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, et al. A blatant repudiation of Dr. Ambedkar.”
