NEW DELHI: The inauguration of the new Parliament building was criticised by "Saamna," the official publication of the Uddhav Thackeray group, who claimed that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi was permitted to take centre stage.
Raising questions on the functioning of Parliament, the mouthpiece questioned the efficiency of Parliament by claiming that although under former Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, Lok Sabha ran for at least 140 days a year, it currently only lasts for 50 days.
The 'Saamna' blasted the Centre, saying, "The new Parliament House's opening was held with great splendour. The message of this ceremony was "Modi is everything and only Modi." Modi did not permit anyone else's shadow to show up in any of the images or videos. That's just how Modi is.
If the President had opened the new Parliament House, it would have included the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, as well as Prime Minister Modi in the centre and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on his right. Such an image wouldn't have diminished Modi's majesty if it had come from the temple of democracy. Modi would have given the impression that he had changed if he had carried out all of these actions, but how would he still be Modi if he had not?
The editorial further salmmed BJP of "putting locks" on the old Parliament where the Prime Minister had taken oath in 2014.
"When Modi was elected as the nation's prime minister in 2014, he said, "The Constitution of the country is the only holy book. That holy book will be respected by our government. When Modi first entered the Parliament to take his seat as prime minister, he was overcome with emotion and knelt on the Parliament's stairs while sobbing. He pledged to uphold the dignity of this Parliament and to make it stronger. However, he shut the same Parliament in just eight years and, at his request, erected a new Parliament edifice. As per report, he planned the opening ceremony "in the manner of a 'Maharaj' performing the Vastu of his castle.
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