Modi opens India’s new parliament as opposition boycotts
Al JazeeraOpposition parties say the new four-storey building should have been inaugurated by the president not the prime minister. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a new parliament building in New Delhi in a grand ceremony boycotted by more than a dozen opposition parties. “The new parliament isn’t just a building; it is the symbol of the aspiration of the 140 crore people of India,” Modi said in an address after the inauguration, which comes a year before parliamentary elections in the world’s most populous nation and as Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party seeks a third term in office. Modi’s government said the revamp was necessary because the older building was “showing signs of distress and overutilisation” and the new design “combines the country’s heritage and traditions”. “The Prime Minister is treating the Parliament House inauguration as coronation.” Modi’s supporters see the new parliament as his attempt to remake India’s power corridor and disrupt the country’s colonial legacy.