‘Atrocious’: Oppn Slams Centre Over Absence Of LS Speaker, Ministers In Event Marking Nehru’s Birth Anniversary

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken to Twitter to pay tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary.

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi with party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, JP Agarwal and others after paying tribute to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary, at Parliament in New Delhi, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021.

New Delhi: The Opposition on Sunday criticised the Union government over the absence of Rajya Sabha Chairperson, Lok Sabha Speaker, and ministers from the traditional event marking the birth anniversary of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. 

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, along with other party leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, JP Agarwal, had attended the event marking the birth anniversary of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru in the Parliament’s Central Hall.

“Extraordinary scene today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn the Central Hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single Minister present. Can it get more atrocious than this?!” Congress party’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, who attended the event, wrote on Twitter.

Extraordinary scene today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn the Central Hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single Minister present. Can it get more atrocious than this?!

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 14, 2021

Quoting Ramesh’s tweet, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien also hit out at the BJP-led Union government.

“Nothing surprises me anymore. This dispensation is destroying India’s great institutions, including Parliament one day at a time,” O'Brien alleged in a tweet.

Nothing surprises me anymore. This dispensation is destroying India’s great institutions, including #Parliament one day at a time. https://t.co/KrjILIbmsA

— Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও'ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) November 14, 2021

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken to Twitter to pay tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary.

Tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Ji on his birth anniversary.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 14, 2021

Previously, in another controversy, the opposition had slammed the Centre over excluding Jawaharlal Nehru’s image from a poster celebrating the 75th year of India’s independence.

Congress, which attacked the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) over the exclusion, had also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue and demanded that he rise above his prejudices to intervene.

Opposition parties had alleged that omitting the photo of India’s first prime minister was a deliberate move.

Several Congress leaders, including Shashi Tharoor, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pawan Khera took to social media sharing the ICHR poster which featured photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Madan Mohan Malviya and VD Savarkar while Nehru's picture was missing.

Born in 1889, the Congress stalwart remains India’s longest-serving prime minister.