Opposition gives a miss to new Parliament inauguration, says 'no regrets'

The Opposition parties that chose to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building have escalated their attack on the Central government criticising the move. In multiple attacks, the opposition leaders from Congress, RJD, AAP, DMK and many more have referred to today as a 'black day', 'undemocratic', and 'breach of protocol' as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the building and installed the historic sceptre ‘Sengol'. Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) initiated the attack as it compared the new Parliament building to a coffin. 

Opposition attack Centre over the inauguration of the new Parliament building  

Joining the list, NCP chief Sharad Pawar stated that he has no regrets about missing the event as he called it an undemocratic move. "The inauguration should have been done by President. I saw the event in the morning. I am happy I didn't go there. I am worried after seeing whatever happened there. Are we taking the country backwards? Was this event for limited people only? Whatever is going on is against democracy as there should have been more involvement".

While NCP MP Supriya Sule said that opening a new Parliament building without the Opposition makes it an incomplete event. It means there is no democracy in the country.

While Congress' Jairam Ramesh highlighted the relevance of May 28 in 5-points as it slammed the Modi government for holding the inauguration ceremony on the birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar.

• Nehru, who did the most to strengthen parliamentary democracy in India, was cremated in 1964.
• Savarkar, whose ideology created the atmosphere that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, was born in 1883.
• The President, who is the first tribal to hold this position, is not being allowed to perform his constitutional duties. He was not allowed to inaugurate the new Parliament House in 2023.
• A self-absorbed dictatorial prime minister who hates parliamentary procedures, who rarely attends parliament or takes part in proceedings, is inaugurating the new parliament building in 2023.
• Distortion of facts by Distorians and drumbeating of media is the lowest level of decline in 2023

RJD remained defiant in its coffin bid as party leader Shakti Singh Yadav stated, "The coffin in our tweet is a representation of democracy being buried. The country will not accept this. Parliament is the temple of democracy and it is the place to have discussions...".

AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi argued that Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla should have inaugurated the new parliament and slammed RJD for comparing the Parliament to the coffin. "He said, "RJD has no stand, the old Parliament building did not even have clearance from Delhi Fire Service. Why are they (RJD) calling the Parliament a coffin? They could have said anything else, why do they need to bring this angle?"

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj took a dig at the Centre as he said,  "Why there is need for a new parliament when there is no right to speak. There are no democratic values left. Just like an emperor buried Mumtaz under the Taj Mahal and the whole world comes to see it, similarly, today an emperor has buried the constitution and made a beautiful Mahal on it".

AIDUF MLA Aminul Islam said, "It is unfortunate that President was not invited. This is a black day for democracy as Sengol is a representation of only one religion. Other religions were not given importance which is against secularism".

DMK leader TKS. Elangovan alleged that PM Modi is doing politics. "Protocol has not been respected as President should have inaugurated the building. But President, as well as Vice President, was ignored. And Sengol, it is a symbol of monarchy".