After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress, and the Left, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said they will not be part of the event. The Congress is yet to make an announcement.
The opposition parties have denounced plans by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the new parliament, instead of President Droupadi Murmu, as well as to schedule it on the birth anniversary of VD Savarkar, the Hindutva ideologue who shared views radically divergent from Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation.
Announcing the Trinamool’s decision, its leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien wrote on Twitter, “Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules — it is the foundation of Indian democracy. Prime Minister Modi doesn’t get that. For him, Sunday’s inauguration of the new building is all about I, ME, MYSELF. So count us out.”
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh tweeted, “Not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building is a great insult to her. This is also an insult to the tribals. The Aam Aadmi party will boycott the inauguration function in protest of Modi ji not inviting the President.”
Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja also said his party will not attend the ceremony. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) accused PM Modi of “bypassing” the President for not just la
