It was considered the “cradle of the new power” capable of “giving substance to the hopes of the country and turning them into reality”. However, the inauguration of India’s new parliament building in New Delhi, chaired today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took place in a climate of controversy and political divisions.
The boycott
Opposition MPs boycotted the ceremony, saying it should have been presided over by the President of the Republic of India, Droupadi Murmu. The fact that it was the Prime Minister who inaugurated the building “insults the high office of the President and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” 19 parties lamented in a joint letter last week. The country’s largest opposition force, the Congress Party, was also among the signatories. Their leader, Rahul Gandhi, tweeted that the prime minister was using the inauguration as a personal coronation. For its part, the BJP, the prime minister’s party, called the boycott an act “disregarding democracy”.
The ceremony
Modi was at the center of a precise scenography that struck many as almost more religious than political. The Prime Minister entered the building after a long, lonely walk and was greeted at the entrance by Parliament Speaker Om Birla. While crowds of Hindu priests chanted sacred songs, he prostrated himself to invoke the blessings of the gods and placed the sengol, a “sacred sceptre, symbol of power,” in a niche to the right of the speakers’ chair. Then another prayer rang out in the room, this time multi-religious.
– Modi hands over the golden scepter to the new Parliament (EPA)
According to the government, the golden scepter was presented by some Hindu priests to the first head of government of the post-colonial era, Jawaharlal Nehru, and was intended in particular to symbolize the transfer of power from the British governorate to India, which took place in August 1947. However, opposition parties disputed this reconstruction, arguing that the symbolic meaning attributed to the object had been exaggerated.
– Modi with some Hindu priests during the dedication ceremony (EPA) The building
The new parliament is part of Modi’s plans to transform the Indian capital. The building has a triangular plan with four floors and covers 64,000 square meters. It was built by Tata Projects Ldt in just under two and a half years of work, which continued through the pandemic. Constructed of the red sandstone typical of many buildings in the capital, it will be able to accommodate, in a joint session, the most 1,300 parliamentarians of the two chambers. The rooms open today will be complemented in the coming months by a large hall for parliamentarians, a library, rooms for committee meetings and a “constitutional atrium” where documentation on the country’s democratic life is on display. It replaces the adjacent circular parliament building, inaugurated 96 years ago, in the midst of colonial times.
street protests
The inauguration interrupted (and likely ended) the sit-in by Indian women wrestlers who have been living outdoors in central New Delhi since April 23 to demand the indictment and arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharang Singh, BJP politician and former president of their association, which the athletes have accused of sexual harassment.
– Athletes Bajrang Punia (left), Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Sangeeta Phogat try to reach the new Parliament (Afp)
The most prominent figures in the protest, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, were arrested this morning and, according to various witnesses, were dragged away using violent methods while attempting to approach the new parliament during the inauguration. After loading the athletes and their supporters onto some buses, the agents dismantled the seating station by removing the tents, mattresses and fans from the picket line.
– Athlete Sakshi Malik stopped by police (Afp)
Law and Order Police Commissioner Dependra Pathak told the press that Poghal, Malik and Punia have been arrested for “breaking the law and will be charged in due course”. Ahead of the ceremony, security in the capital was increased by deploying thousands of officers, blocking roads and subway stations near the prison area, and setting up a tent to house all detained protesters and opponents.
– One of the buses on which the police loaded the protesters (Epa)