Rahul Gandhi’s ‘bricks of ego’ tweet as 19 parties to boycott new Parliament building event
As 19 opposition parties decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament complex by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the event is an “insult” to the country’s highest Constitutional post.
Gandhi also said Parliament is not built by “bricks of ego” but through “Constitutional values”.
“Neither getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor inviting her to the ceremony is an insult to the country’s highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego, but of constitutional values,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
As many as 19 opposition parties, including the Congress, Left, Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, said they will skip the inauguration ceremony, claiming they find no value in a new building when the soul of democracy has been sucked out of Parliament.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill earlier on Wednesday hit out at Gandhi and asked him to learn how to respect own party colleagues “before issuing advisory on Constitutional propriety”.
“Rahul Gandhi in sheer arrogance tore the ordinance in full media glare to embarrass the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh Ji & today he is giving gyan on respecting post of President re inaugurating New Parliament ?🤔 Rahul Gandhi should 1st learn how to respect his own party colleagues & seniors before issuing advisory on Constitutional propriety!” Shergill, who quit the Congress last year alleging that the “vision of the party’s decision-makers is no longer in sync”, tweeted.
Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28 following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The opposition parties have said the President is not only the Head of State in India, but also an integral part of Parliament as she summons, prorogues, and addresses it. Therefore, they have argued that the President should inaugurate the building and not the prime minister.