• India The Inconvenient Truth Indian Prime Minister Wants to Silence

The main opposition parties in India have boycotted on Sunday the inauguration of the new Parliament building officiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a rare show of unity against the Hindu nationalist party of the president, who has been in power for nine years and seeks a third term in next year's general election.

Modi inaugurated the new building in the capital, New Delhi, offering prayers while Hindu priests sang religious hymns at the start of the ceremony. Opposition parties criticized the act, saying he had relegated Indian President Draupadi Murma, who has only ceremonial powers despite being head of state and the highest constitutional authority.

Shortly after the ceremony, Modi entered parliament visibly satisfied to applause from his party's lawmakers, who chanted his name. He gave a nearly 40-minute speech in which he extolled India's parliamentary democracy and said the country had left its colonial past behind, referring to the old Parliament building, built by the British when they ruled India.

"India is the mother of democracy," Modi said as lawmakers banged on their desks in a nod of approval. "Several years of foreign rule robbed us of our pride. Today, India has left that colonial mentality behind."

The leader of the opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, tweeted that "parliament is the voice of the people. The prime minister regards the inauguration of Parliament as a coronation."

At least 19 opposition parties were absent from the event, which coincided with the anniversary of the birth of an ideologue of Hindu nationalism. In a statement, opposition groups said Modi's decision "to inaugurate the building himself" was a "grave insult" to Indian democracy and added that the government had "disqualified, suspended and silenced" opposition lawmakers to pass "controversial legislation" with little debate. "When the soul of democracy has been taken away from parliament, we find no value in a new building," they added.

Influential Home Minister Amit Shah said the opposition had politicized the event and that other leaders of Modi's party saw the boycott as "an insult to the prime minister."

The new triangular-shaped building — estimated to cost $120 million — is part of a $2.800 billion transformation of British-era offices and residences in central New Delhi, which will also include blocks of buildings to house government departments and ministries, as well as Modi's new private residence. The project, called Vista Central, spans 3.2 kilometers (1.9 miles). The project was announced in 2019 and Modi inaugurated the works the following year, in December 2020.

The plan has been heavily criticised by opposition politicians, architects and heritage experts, many of whom have described it as environmentally irresponsible, a threat to cultural heritage and too expensive.

The newly opened building is located directly opposite the old Indian parliament, a circular structure designed by British architects in the early twentieth century. The new four-storey building has a total of 1,272 seats in two chambers, almost 500 more than the previous building.

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