Modi inaugurates India’s new parliament amid opposition boycott

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s new parliament building in New Delhi in a grand ceremony on Sunday, amid a boycott by more than a dozen opposition parties.

The new parliament building, labeled as “a cradle of empowerment” by Modi, opened its doors by offering prayers as Hindu priests chanted religious hymns at the start of the ceremony.

“This is not just a building. It is a reflection of the aspirations and dreams of 1.4 billion Indians. This is the temple of our democracy and it’s giving the message of India’s determination to the world,” said Modi.

The extravagant ceremony was boycotted by 19 political parties, which protested against Modi inaugurating the new building, and demanded that the President of India should have been inaugurated it.

Critics slammed Modi for inaugurating the new building, where the laws of the country would be crafted, in the presence of Hindu religious leaders, but in the absence of the President and the opposition parties, and said that he’s giving a glimpse of the New India that he wants.

Modi’s “decision to inaugurate the building by himself” was “a grave insult” to India’s democracy, opposition parties said in a statement on Wednesday.

The opposition also slammed Modi for “disqualified, suspended and muted” opposition lawmakers while passing “controversial legislation” with little debate.

“When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the parliament, we find no value in a new building,” the parties said.

The leader of the main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, attacked Modi by saying that he was treating the parliament inauguration as a coronation ceremony.

“To open a new parliament building without the opposition, it does not mean there is a democracy in the country. It’s an incomplete event,” Supriya Sule, an opposition leader, told the ANI news agency.

Meanwhile, during the ceremony, India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic medalists, who had been protesting for months demanding the arrest of a minister who they claim had sexually harassed some of the female wrestlers, marched towards the new building as they intensified their protest, but were detained by the police.

The new parliament building is a component of Modi’s Hindu nationalist administration’s plan to replace British colonial-era architecture, which also includes the old parliament building, which is probably going to become a museum.

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