NEW DELHI: Indian opposition political parties said on Wednesday they would boycott the inauguration ceremony for the new parliament building to be conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sidelining the country’s president.
In a joint statement, 19 national and regional opposition parties said Modi’s decision to dedicate the building on Sunday without President Droupadi Murmu taking part was not just a grave insult but a direct assault on democracy.
India’s president is an appointed, non-party executive with only ceremonial powers, but is considered the country’s first citizen and is the highest constitutional authority.
“When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building,” the letter stated. The building is the centrepiece of a $2.4 billion project aimed at relocating some prominent institutions out of heritage, British colonial buildings into bigger, modern facilities.
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