The President of India and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Mrs Droupadi Murmu not being invited to inaugurate the new Parliament House built at Rs 1250 crore has blown up into a major political fiusticuffs between the government and Opposition.
The government’s decision that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament Building has led the Opposition to get united and decide to boycott the function altogether.
Both sides taking rigid stand reflects poorly on the temple of democracy which they want to inaugurate.
It is a basic disregard of courtesy as well as protocol to not have the head of the state inaugurating India’s new Parliament building.
The slating of Prime Minister as the person to inaugurate the new Parliament building is the main bone of contention between the ruling party and the Opposition.
The Opposition is only calling it an insult of the tribal president Ms Murmu.
The BJP has not been able to give any specific reason as to why the President cannot be invited inaugurate the building.
Parliament House is the concrete representative of our hard-fought freedom and democracy.
The BJP government which decided to have an absolutely new Parliament building without any trace of British colonial legacy as the symbol of India’s pride was definitely a move in the right direction.
Obviously with the looming 2024 general elections Prime Minister Modi, a foresighted politician is not likely to miss the opportunity for his party and himself taking full credit for the new Parliament building.
Thus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to personally inaugurate and dedicate it to the nation.
The Opposition has criticised the government for not inviting the President for inaugurating the new Parliament building as constitutional propriety demands.
The question is also being asked as to whether the country could afford or should have spent this colossal sum for a new building when the common man is reeling with price rise, though the project had got Parliamentary clearance.
The BJP and Mr Narendra Modi seem to be always getting carried away with spectacular, stunning, high value infrastructural projects more for their symbolic value rather than their actual need and use.
Like the “Ram Mandir” this Temple of Democracy is also supposed to be a shot in the arm of BJP who need concrete big ticket items close to the 2024 D-day.
Opposition even now is questioning what was the dire necessity to have a completely new Parliament building? Could the earlier one not served the purpose for a few more years?
But what is more galling to them is the fact that they feel to have been completely left out of the picture. The complaint is that when it came to the nitty-gritty of the new Parliament House like when to hold the inauguration, whom to call for inauguration, the ruling party did not call an all-party meeting. The Opposition feels that it has not been involved at all. All, the decisions have been taken by the party in power.
But is the answer to be indignant and not to attend at all?
Inauguration of the new Parliament building sans Opposition ?
One fact must be crystal clear India is a parliamentary democracy formed of the ruling party and opposition. Though the ruling party governs and holds the purse strings, the Opposition is supposed to be act like a watchdog keeping careful watch on the activities of the government as to whether it is fulfilling its promises given to the people or not and does not commit any misdeeds.
Both are significant and important pillars of our constitutional democracy. Without a strong and sound opposition any government could turn dictatorial and tyrannical.
Parliament House consists of both ruling and opposition party members. At times of any event of national importance, war or natural calamity, the entire parliament of the country jointly works to safeguard the nation and its people.
It is the people of India who vote the all the members of Parliament whether they be in the Opposition or in the Treasury benches.
A new Parliament House is a major achievement of the present BJP government, but it is eventually a great national asset.
The Constitution of India envisages India as a Parliamentary democracy with a President, two houses of Parliament and a Council of Ministers.
But the whole Parliament itself (the ruling party and opposition) represents the will of the country and its people as a whole.
Naturally the Opposition parties feel left out if they have not been involved at all by the BJP in deciding the date and the person who would inaugurate the new Parliament House. In protest they too have now decided they would give a miss to the inauguration function altogether. But what kind of signal are they sending to the people.
The Opposition feels, BJP enjoying massive majority in Lok Sabha , does not want to hear the voice of Opposition at all and tends to silence it both within and outside Lok Sabha.
BJP is acting as if it has got a “new” toy which it does not want to share with anyone else.
It will reflect very poorly on Indian democracy if the Opposition fails to attend the inaugural function of the great national asset like new Parliament House.
Nineteen opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress, the Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena have decided not to participate in the inaugural event.
The fact that this event is acting as a catalyst to bring opposition together on a united front itself is something which BJP would not be happy with politically.
Another fact which the Opposition highlights is that May 28 happens to be the birth anniversary of VD Savarkar, who developed the Hindutva nationalist ideology, and choosing this date for inaugural just reaffirms BJP’s core belief.
With Modi deciding to inaugurate the building Opposition seems to have got more fodder to target Modi as being narcissistic.
The BJP government’s counter is there are precedents and that as the head of government Mrs Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe in 1975 and her son Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Library in 1978. There is nothing wrong with inauguration by Modi.
But the argument seems hollow because there is difference between inaugurating an Annexe or a Library of Parliament and new Parliament building of the country itself.
As the issue is snowballing. Is there a need to re-think by BJP?
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
