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Minister's veiled jibe at Rahul Gandhi over Parliament row: ‘some got barred…’
There was no let-up in the war of words between the BJP and the Congress on Saturday over the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday took a veiled swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha while targeting the Opposition for its decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. Addressing the inaugural session of a day-long national conclave organised by Doordarshan, the minister for information and broadcasting said the opposition parties earlier found excuses for disrupting the Houses and now they are boycotting the inauguration.
"It is a different matter that some people got barred from Parliament. Earlier, they used to find excuses for not allowing Parliament to function. Now, they are talking of boycott which is also an insult," Thakur said at the event organised to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the Modi government.
India takes pride in being the "mother of democracy" and Prime Minister Modi has given a new Parliament building to the nation, which is the world's largest democracy, said Thakur.
Icon of India’s democracy gets a successor
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday. Several opposition parties, including Congress, AAP, TMC and Samajwadi Party, have announced a boycott of the function contending that President Droupadi Murmu should do the honours.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have criticised the opposition's decision to boycott the major event, slamming their stand as a "blatant affront to democratic ethos and constitutional values of our great nation". In a statement, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also implored the Opposition parties to reconsider their decision and said the people of India will not forget their "egregious insult to our democracy and to their elected representatives" if they stick to their stand.
"Their actions today will echo through the annals of history, casting a long shadow over their legacy. We urge them to think about the nation and not individual political gains," they said in the statement on Wednesday.
