‘We are taking our country backwards’: Sharad Pawar on rituals performed during new Parliament building inauguration

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar expressed concern over the rituals performed during the inauguration event of the newly constructed Parliament building, saying he is happy not to have attended the inauguration ceremony after watching it on television.

Pawar’s remarks came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the new House to the nation on Sunday amid religious rituals and multi-faith prayers. Amid Vedic chants by priests from Karnataka’s Shringeri Math, the prime minister performed “Ganapati Homam” to invoke Gods to bless the inauguration of the new Parliament building. A multi-faith prayer was also held to mark the occasion.

“I watched it for around an hour and felt even more satisfied that I didn’t go there. The religious rituals were being carried out there shows there is a big difference between the concept of modern India that Jawaharlal Nehru presented and what is happening now,” Pawar said while speaking in Pune on Sunday.

The NCP chief further questioned saying what happened indicated if “we are taking our country backwards by decades.” Pawar said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had envisaged a society having a scientific temperament, but what happened at the inauguration ceremony was the opposite of that.

NCP was among at least 20 opposition parties that skipped the event in the national capital, primarily taking exception to the prime minister doing the honours instead of the President of India.

“There is a huge difference between the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru talking about the concept of modern India and a series of rituals performed at the new Parliament building today in New Delhi. I fear that we are taking our country backwards by decades,” Pawar said.

“One cannot compromise on science. Nehru was persistent about his wish to form a society with a scientific temperament. But what happened today at the inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building is exactly the opposite of what Nehru had envisaged,” he added.

Pawar also questioned the absence of President Droupadi Murmu and vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar on the momentous occasion.

“It’s the government’s responsibility to invite the president and vice-president. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla was present, but Dhankhar, the head of Rajya Sabha, wasn’t there. Therefore, the whole event looks like it was for a limited number of people,” he said.

Another NCP leader and Member of Parliament (MP) from Baramati Supriya Sule also reacted to the new Parliament building inauguration and called it an ‘incomplete event’ without Opposition parties, saying that it means there is no democracy in the country.

“Whenever they need opposition, ministers make calls. This time there was no such attempt. To open a new Parliament building without Opposition makes it an incomplete event. It means there is no democracy in the country,” Sule said while speaking to reporters.

PM Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building on Sunday morning and installed the historic Sengol in the Lok Sabha chamber. Dressed in traditional attire, Modi walked into Parliament premises from its Gate No. 1 and was welcomed by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.