JD(U) Calls BJP 'Casteist' For 'Not Inviting' Prez Murmu To Parliament Inauguration

Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar hit out at Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh for participating in the inauguration of new Parliament building

Janata Dal (United) on Monday came down heavily on Bharatiya Janata Party calling it casteist for not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration programme of the new Parliament building. “Droupadi Murmu was not invited to inaugurate the new Parliament as she's from a lower caste,” he said while speaking to ABP News. He also lashed out at Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman for attending the function where "the Honourable Vice President, was not present".

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U)’s supreme leader Nitish Kumar was among the 20 parties that announced to boycott the inaugural event terming it as "an attempt to change history by those who had made no contribution to the freedom struggle".

JD(U) Slams Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman

JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar on Monday berated Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh for participating in the inauguration programme of the new Parliament building despite a boycott of the function by the party. In a strongly worded statement, Kumar deplored the journalist-turned-politician's participation in a function where "even your Chairman, the Honourable Vice President, was not present".

"The party had sent you to the Rajya Sabha in recognition of your contributions to journalism. But when a dark chapter in the history of parliamentary democracy in the country, you traded intellectual integrity for your high office", he added

"It is for the top leadership to decide what action to take in view of your participation despite the party having decided to boycott. But future generations will know what to make of your action that was unbecoming of a person of your stature,” said the JD(U) spokesperson. 

Harivansh is serving his second term in the Rajya Sabha which will end next year and has been the Deputy Chairman since 2018, when he became only the third non-Congress MP to occupy the post.

The 66 years old had served as a media advisor to the then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar before serving as editor of Prabhat Khabar, one of the leading Hindi newspapers of Jharkhand and Bihar.