‘PM betrays people by inaugurating Parl on Savarkar’s birthday’

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president KS Alagiri on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was insulting the people of India by inaugurating the new Parliament building on the birthday of Savarkar.

Likening the shifting of the Parliament in the incumbent BJP regime led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the shifting of the capital by monarch Mohammed Bin Tughlaq in the distant past, Alagiri in a statement, claimed that May 28 has been selected for the Parliament inauguration as it was the birthday of Savarkar.

Remarking that Savarkar, who was incarcerated in the Andhaman prison for taking part in the freedom struggle, secured his release by tendering an apology and assuring not to act against the British rule then, the TNCC chief said that there could not be a greater insult to the people of India than inaugurating the Parliament on the birth anniversary of Savarkar who insulted Indian freedom movement.

Alleging that President Droupadi Murmu who hails from Adivasi community has been ignored for the Parliament inauguration now in the same way the then president Ram Nath Kovind was ignored for the foundation laying ceremony of the Parliament building construction in 2020, Alagiri said, "Prime Minister Modi, who brags about appointing Dalits and Adivasis for the highest offices in the country, has insulted them by not inviting them for the inauguration. Everyone can see the true face of Modi from this."

Stating that the President was the head of both houses of the Parliament and he has the rights to convene and prorogue the Parliament and Bills passed by the Parliament become a law only after the President's assent, Alagiri said that inauguration of the Parliament after ignoring the President amounts to Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulting the President and the Constitution.