TMC, AAP, CPI to Boycott New Parliament Building Inauguration by PM Modi; Others May Follow

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Communist Party of India (Marxist) have announced to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28. The decision came after several Opposition parties demanded that President Droupadi Murmu should inaugurate the new building in the national capital.

As per media sources, more Opposition parties, including Congress, are mulling skipping the event as leaders of like-minded parties deliberated on the issue and a joint statement by the floor leaders on a united boycott of the event may be released soon.

Announcing the party’s decision on Twitter, TMC MP Derek O’Brien said Parliament is not just a new building but it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules that are the foundation of Indian democracy.

Echoing similar views, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the Aam Aadmi Party will boycott the ceremony for not inviting President Murmu and called it an “insult” to the Dalit, tribal and deprived society of India.

“Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu ji to the inauguration ceremony of the Parliament House is a gross insult to her. This is an insult to the Dalit tribal and deprived society of India. AAP will boycott the inauguration program in protest against Modi ji for not inviting the President,” Singh tweeted.

CPI general secretary D Raja also said his party will not attend the ceremony.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury accused PM Modi of “bypassing” the President during the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new Parliament building and also during its inauguration.

“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,” Yechury said in a tweet.

“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,” he said in a tweet.

According to news agency PTI sources, most of the Opposition parties are of the view that they should unitedly skip the ceremony, but a final decision on the issue will be taken on Wednesday.

PM Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

On Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised an objection to President Murmu not being invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament Building, saying the Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India, and the President of India is its highest Constitutional authority.

“It looks like the Modi government has ensured the election of President of India from the dalit and the tribal communities only for electoral reasons,” he also charged.

Earlier in the day, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri slammed 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”.

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.

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.

The opposition parties had boycotted the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the building by Modi in December 2020, citing concerns about its timing amid farmer protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic distress due to a lockdown.

(with PTI inputs)