Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday countered the argument given by the Opposition parties over not inviting the President for the inauguration programme of the new parliament building on May 28. Taking to Twitter, Sarma shared a list of events in the last nine years in BJP and Opposition-ruled states where the Governor or President was not invited.
“In the last 9 years - 5 non-BJP / Opposition state governments either laid foundation stones or inaugurated a new Legislative Assembly building. All were done by either the Chief Minister or the Party President. In not a single instance was the Governor or President invited,” said the BJP leader in his tweet.
The list of instances he shared included laying the foundation stone of Assembly buildings in Jharkhand and Assam in 2014 and new Assembly building in Andhra Pradesh in 2018 where the Governor was not invited.
He also included laying of the foundation stone of Chhattisgarh Assembly by Sonia Gandhi in 2020 and inauguration of Telangana Assembly in 2023 where the Governor was not invited.
As 19 opposition parties decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sarma said it was mere ‘drama’ as they had never supported the project.
He also maintained that another reason for the boycott might be that the inauguration will be held on a day “associated with Veer Savarkar”.
Modi will inaugurate the new building on May 28, the birth anniversary of BD Savarkar, following an invitation by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
“The boycott is obvious. They had opposed the construction of the Parliament building in the first place,” Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.