MUMBAI: The inauguration of India’s new parliament is scheduled for this weekend amid a political row as 19 opposition parties vowed to boycott the ceremony.
The controversy arose after Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, decided to inaugurate the building on Sunday. In contrast, the opposition leaders want India’s president, the highest constitutional authority, to open the building.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have accused the opposition of playing politics. Around 19 parties, including the main opposition Congress on Wednesday released a statement announcing their mutual decision to boycott the inaugural ceremony.
They noted that while the opening was “a momentous occasion,” The decision of Modi to inaugurate the building by himself was a direct assault and a grave insult to the democracy of India.
The statement also said that opposition MPs had been suspended, disqualified, and muted while controversial laws were passed with little debate.
The parties added that when the democracy’s soul has been sucked out of the parliament, they find no value in a new building.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said that all political parties had been invited to the ceremony and asked the opposition not to politicize the event.
“The government has asked all to be present. Everyone will act according to their feelings,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Relations between most opposition parties and the governing BJP are strained, often ending in an impasse during sessions in the parliament.
Opposition leaders recently protested after Congressman Rahul Gandhi was expelled from parliament after receiving a jail sentence in a defamation case.
Leaders from the governing National Democratic Alliance, led by the BJP, criticized the statement by opposition parties, calling it “an egregious insult to elected representatives and democracy.” They also invited the opposition to “think about the nation and not individual political gains.”
Opposition parties have also criticized the government’s choice of a date for the ceremony that coincides with the Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar’s birth anniversary.
However, not all opposition parties are on the same page, some regional parties, such as the Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress Party, will attend the ceremony.
The new parliament building, part of the ambitious government project to develop the Central Vista power corridor in Delhi, has been surrounded by controversy.
Many opposition leaders, environmentalists, and civil society groups criticized the high cost of this project and alleged that the government had not consulted the public and other lawmakers. They also questioned the government’s decision to build a new parliament building instead of upgrading the old one.
However, the government said the new parliament was necessary as the older building was “showing signs of distress and overutilization.”
The new building was designed by HCP Design, Planning, and Management and constructed by Tata Projects. It has increased seating capacity and is built at an estimated cost of 9.7bn rupees ($117.1m, £94.2m).
In 2020, Congress also boycotted the foundation stone-laying event of the new parliament, criticizing Modi’s government for holding it at a time when farmers were protesting nationwide against three controversial new laws.
