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India's major opposition parties have boycotted the inauguration of a new parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rare show of unity against his Hindu nationalist ruling party.

Source : PortMac.News | Globe :

Source : PortMac.News | Globe | News Story:

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India's opposition boycotts new parliament inauguration
India's major opposition parties have boycotted the inauguration of a new parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rare show of unity against his Hindu nationalist ruling party.

News Story Summary:

Mr Modi inaugurated the new building in the capital on Sunday by offering prayers as Hindu priests chanted religious hymns.

Opposition parties criticised the event saying Mr Modi had sidelined President Droupadi Murmu, who has only ceremonial powers but is the head of state and highest constitutional authority.

Shortly after the inauguration, a visibly beaming Mr Modi parliament amid a rousing applause by his party politicians who chanted "Modi, Modi".

He delivered an almost 40-minute speech in which he hailed India's parliamentary democracy and said the country had left behind its colonial past, referring to the old parliament building that was built by the British when they ruled India.

"India is the mother of democracy," Mr Modi said, as parliamentarians thumped their desks.

"Several years of foreign rule stole our pride from us. Today, India has left behind that colonial mindset."

The opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "Parliament is the voice of the people. The Prime Minister is considering the inauguration of the Parliament House as a coronation."

At least 19 opposition parties skipped the event, which coincided with the birth anniversary of a Hindu nationalist ideologue.

Opposition parties said in a statement on Wednesday that Mr Modi's decision to inaugurate the building was "a grave insult" to India's democracy, because the government had "disqualified, suspended and muted" opposition politicians while passing "controversial legislation" with little debate.

"When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the parliament, we find no value in a new building," the parties said.

India's powerful Home Minister Amit Shah said the opposition had politicised the event. Other leaders from Mr Modi's party said the boycott was an insult to the prime minister.

Modi's 'Pet project':

The new triangular-shaped building — built at an estimated cost of $US120 million ($184  million) — is part of a $US2.8 billion revamp of British-era offices and residences in central New Delhi inlcuding blocks of buildings to house government ministries and departments, and Mr Modi's new private residence.

The entire project, called the "Central Vista," is spread over 3.2 kilometres.

The project was announced in 2019, and Mr Modi laid the foundation in December 2020.

The plan has drawn intense criticism from opposition politicians, architects and heritage experts, many of whom called it environmentally irresponsible, a threat to cultural heritage and too expensive.

Outrage grew in 2021, when at least 12 opposition parties questioned the project's timing, saying it was built as the country faced a devastating surge in COVID cases. They branded the revamp as Mr Modi's "vanity project" and said its construction was prioritised over the loss of lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.

A year earlier, a group of 60 former civil servants wrote an open letter to Mr Modi to highlight the architectural value of the old parliament and said the new plan would "irrevocably" destroy the area's cultural heritage.

Mr Modi's government has said the overhaul was necessary because the older building was "showing signs of distress and overutilisation" and the new design "combines the country's heritage and traditions".

The new building sits just across from India's old parliament, a circular structure designed by British architects in the early 20th century.

The new four-story building has a total of 1,272 seats in two chambers, almost 500 more than the previous one.

The old parliament will be converted into a museum.

The golden sceptre:

During the televised ceremony on Sunday, Mr Modi prostrated himself before a royal golden sceptre that his Bharatiya Janata Party says symbolised the transfer of power when it was gifted to the country's first prime minister on the eve of India's independence from Britain in 1947.

Dozens of Hindu priests followed Mr Modi inside parliament, where he installed the sceptre near the chair of the speaker.

Mr Modi's critics and opposition leaders have questioned the sceptre's historicity saying the emblem was appropriate for a monarchy, not a democracy.

The controversy over the new legislative building comes just months after opposition leaders protested Mr Gandhi's disqualification from parliament in a defamation case over remarks he made about Mr Modi's surname.

Barely a mile away from the ceremony, a heavy police presence overpowered about 100 protesting Indian wrestlers and their supporters.

They accuse their federation president of sexual misconduct and had planned to march to the new Parliament building.

Some of the protesters scuffled with police and were taken away in a bus.

Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied the accusations, is a powerful lawmaker from Mr Modi's party.

Source | AP


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