Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Thursday, May 25, lashed out against the political parties speaking highly of President Droupadi Murmu and calling her an eminent leader from the tribal community. The Finance Minister said that the same parties had run “a bitter campaign” against her before she was elected as the President. She was speaking to reporters at Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
Nirmala said that these political parties had earlier “abused” Murmu and called her a “rubber stamp”. She said that these parties had even said that President Murmu represented “evil forces”, adding that by the words ‘evil forces', the Opposition parties meant the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Minister stated that the present Union government gives high respect to the President and added that the Opposition parties have not said anything to honour the President.
Pointing out that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the Assembly buildings in Chhattisgarh and other places along with the then PM Manmohan Singh, Nirmala questioned the capacity in which Sonia had done so. “Going by the logic the Opposition is presenting now against the inauguration of the new Parliament building by the Prime Minister, it should have been the Governor who should have inaugurated the Chhattisgarh Assembly building,” she said. Nirmala added that the Parliament was the temple of democracy and reminisced about Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying his respects by touching the ground with his forehead before entering the Parliament in 2014.
She also added that it was not right for the Opposition to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building and appealed to the Opposition parties to reconsider their decision. She said that it was a matter of pride for Tamil Nadu to have the sceptre presented by the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of Independence to be installed in the new Lok Sabha.
Nineteen Opposition parties including the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and others announced that they will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament House building by PM Modi, accusing the PM and his government of insulting the office of the President and violating the spirit of the Constitution.