One man’s ego has denied President her Constitutional privilege: Cong's dig at Modi
Sharpening its barbs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Parliament building inauguration issue, the Congress on Thursday (May 25) said that “one man’s ego and desire for self-promotion” has denied the first tribal woman president her constitutional privilege to inaugurate the complex.
“Yesterday, President Draupadi Murmu inaugurated the country’s largest judicial campus at the Jharkhand High Court complex in Ranchi. It is one man’s ego and desire for self-promotion that has denied the first Adivasi woman President her Constitutional privilege to inaugurate the new Parliament building in New Delhi on May 28th,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.
Also read: In collective protest, 19 Opposition parties to boycott Parliament opening
“Ashoka the Great, Akbar the Great, Modi the Inaugurate,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh’s tweet came a day after 20 Opposition parties announced their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Modi.
Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, Left, TMC, SP and AAP, came together to jointly announce the boycott, saying they find no value in a new building when the “soul of democracy has been sucked out”. Separately, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said if Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla does not inaugurate the new Parliament building, his party would not attend.
Regional parties like Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Jagan Mohan Reddy YSRCP, however, have decided to attend the event.
After the Opposition boycott call, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had also launched a sharp counterattack, calling the Opposition’s stand a “blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation”.
The 19 Opposition parties in their joint statement said Prime Minister Modis decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, “completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response”.
(With inputs from agencies)
