Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday criticised the Congress over its objection to the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegedly not inviting President Droupadi Murmu. He said that it was then Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi who inaugurated the Parliament annexe and library respectively in the past.
Earlier, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor quoted Articles 60 and 111 of the Constitution and claimed that as head of Parliament, President should inaugurate the building, adding that the PM performing the ground-breaking ceremony before the beginning of the building’s construction was ‘bizzare’.
Dismissing Tharoor’s claims, Puri said, “In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can’t our head of government do the same.”
Article 60 of the Constitution deals with the oath or affirmation by the President and states that every President or person acting as President or discharging functions of the President should make and subscribe in the presence of the Chief Justice of India or before entering into the office.
Article 111 of the Constitution deals with assent to bills after they have been passed by both Houses of the Parliament. The President has the authority to give assent or withhold the bills after they are presented to him.
The Union minister claimed that the Congress ‘doesn’t know how to read the Constitution’ and that they read both the Articles incorrectly.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge earlier pointed out that then President Ram Nath Kovind was not invited during the foundation laying ceremony of the new Parliament building in December 2020. He alleged that the Modi government has ‘repeatedly disrespected propriety’. “The Office of the President of India is reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS Government,” he tweeted.
PM Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28. At least five opposition parties have confirmed or indicated that they will boycott the inauguration event arguing that it should be the President and not the Prime Minister who launches the new building.
“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. PM Modi doesn’t get that. For him, Sunday’s inauguration of the new building is all about I, me, myself. So count us out ,” Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said in tweet. His party was the first to pull out from the event.