Oppn boycotting Parliament building inauguration disgusting attempt to create controversy: UP CM

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday hit out at Opposition parties for boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building, saying they were making a "disgusting" attempt to create a controversy.

His remarks came a day after 20 Opposition parties, including Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party and AAP, announced a boycott of the inauguration of the building on May 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They said the prime minister's decision to inaugurate it by himself, "completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response".

The chief minister said this is not for the first time that a prime minister is becoming a "sakshi" (witness) to an inauguration in the Parliament complex.

Earlier, prime minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament annexe and prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the Parliament library, Adityanath said.

On the boycott announcement, he said, "In the history of independent India, the date of May 28 is going to be registered as a glorious day when the prime minister will gift the new Parliament building to the nation." "This will be a historic moment. Instead of making this moment dignified and glorious, the type of statements coming from the Congress and other opposition parties are saddening and irresponsible. This is of weakening the democracy," the chief minister said in video, which he shared on his official Twitter handle.

He said, people in the country and in the world are proud of "India being the biggest democracy", and Prime Minister Modi has given a new identity to the country. On the Opposition's stand, Adityanath said, "Disgusting attempts are made to make a controversy on the the glorious moment. I think the country will not accept such things. The new Parliament building has been made keeping a visionary approach in mind... today's need and vision for next 100 years."