As Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the new Parliament building on Sunday, the Congress, which has joined 18 other political parties in boycotting the ceremony, has called Modi a "self-glorifying authoritarian PM."
Accusing the PM of having "utter disdain for parliamentary procedures," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "On this day, May 28th: Nehru, the person who did the most to nurture Parliamentary democracy in India, was cremated in 1964. Savarkar, the person whose ideological ecosystem led to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, was born in 1883."
"The President — the first Adivasi to become President — is not allowed to fulfil her Constitutional duties and inaugurate the New Parliament building in 2023. A self-glorifying authoritarian Prime Minister with utter disdain for Parliamentary procedures, who rarely attends Parliament or engages in it, inaugurates the New Parliament building in 2023."
Jairam Ramesh added that on this day President Droupadi Murmu the first Adivasi to become President was also not allowed to fulfil her constitutional duties and inaugurate the new Parliament building.
Ramesh said that the fabrication of facts by "distortions" and the drum-beating of the media hits new lows in 2023.
The Opposition parties have boycotted the event contending that the President and not the Prime Minister should inaugurate the new Parliament building.
Meanwhile, the RJD, which too has boycotted the ceremony, likened the architecture of the new Parliament building to a coffin. The controversial remarks drew the ire of the BJP, which said people will bury the Bihar party in such a coffin in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The ruling party in Bihar tweeted put up a picture of a coffin alongside the Parliament building with the caption, "What is this?" RJD leader Shakti Yadav told ANI that PM Modi has buried democracy. "The coffin has been posted as Modi has ensured the death of democracy," he said.
Hitting back, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, "People of the country will bury you in the same coffin in 2024 and will not give you the opportunity to enter the new temple of democracy. It is decided that the parliament building belongs to the country and the coffin to you."
The BJP also demanded that a case of treason be registered against such people who have compared the new Parliament building with a coffin.