May 29, 2023
NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s new Parliament building on Sunday, a historic occasion for the world’s largest democracy that was unfortunately tainted by an opposition boycott.
As many as 21 opposition parties, including the Congress, stayed away from the ceremony, arguing that the new building should have been inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu, who serves as head of the state.
They also expressed concerns about government actions that they said had “sucked out” the “soul of democracy” from the Parliament. The governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, called their boycott a “disrespect of democracy” and accused them of lacking “national spirit and sense of pride”.
During the ceremony, Mr Modi installed a historically important gold sceptre from Tamil Nadu inside the new complex and also lauded workers who had toiled through the Covid-19 pandemic to build the structure. A message from the President, who described the inauguration of the new Parliament building as “a matter of pride and joy”, was also read out.
Mr Modi later delivered his maiden address in the freshly unveiled Lok Sabha, or Lower House, hailing the new Parliament complex as a “harbinger of not just India’s development but that of the world”. Several other opposition parties, including those that are not members of the BJP-led ruling alliance, attended the event.
Construction of the new building, located next to the old one, began in January 2021. While some maintained that the existing colonial-era structure could have been refurbished to meet new needs, the government argued that the old building commissioned in 1927 had started to show signs of distress as well as over-utilisation.
The new three-storey building has a built-up area of 64,500 sq m – about the size of nine football fields – and has a significantly larger capacity. The Lower House has 888 seats, up from 543 in the old one, and the Upper House can seat 384 members, as opposed to 250 in the earlier one.
This increased capacity is meant to take in additional members who may come in once seats are added to Parliament as part of a reappraisal exercise that factors in population growth across the country.
The present number of parliamentary seats is based on the 1971 census population numbers. It is likely to increase after 2026, once the current freeze on reallocation of seats is lifted.
A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study estimates that the number of seats needed in the Lower House could be as high as 848, in keeping with population projections for 2026.
The new building also has a greener footprint – it is expected to reduce electricity consumption by 30 per cent compared with the older one – and is slated to serve for the next 150 years.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi carrying a sengol as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla looked on during the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28. PHOTO: REUTERS
Senior political analyst Neerja Chowdhury said the opposition’s boycott signified the “enormous bitterness between the ruling side and the opposition” and was a “worrying reflection” of India’s parliamentary democracy.
While noting that the opposition has every right to criticise the government and “put it on the mat to make it more accountable”, she said the two sides could have reconciled their differences for this “once-in-a-history moment”.
“Irrespective of their differences, the opposition could have put them aside for a few hours and attended the function, if for nothing else than at least to give the message that the Parliament belongs as much to the opposition as to the ruling party,” she told The Straits Times.
As the new building of India’s Parliament is inaugurated, our hearts and minds are filled with pride, hope and promise. May this iconic building be a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality. May it propel our great nation to new heights of progress. pic.twitter.com/zzGuRoHrUS
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 28, 2023
Meanwhile, even as the new Parliament building was being inaugurated, a crackdown ensued outside on top Indian wrestlers, including Olympic medallists, and others who were protesting against the government’s inaction against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
They have accused him of sexually harassing several athletes, a charge that Mr Singh has denied. The protesting wrestlers were detained by the police, and their tents cleared from the protest site near the Parliament building on Sunday.
“Democracy is being murdered openly,” wrestler Vinesh Phogat posted on Twitter.