New Delhi: The Congress attacked Thursday the Centre over the new Parliament building. It asked what the new building would represent when it is built after ‘trampling’ democracy. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said history would record what has been happening in the recent past. Randeep Surjewala pointed out that while farmers were protesting on the streets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy laying the foundation stone of the new Parliament building.
“Dear PM, Parliament is not mortar and stones. It envisions Democracy. It imbibes Constitution. It is Economic-Political-Social Equality. It is Compassion and Camaraderie. It is the aspirations of 130 crore Indians. What would a building built upon trampling of these values represent?” Surjewala said on Twitter.
Surjewala said in a democracy, power does not mean fulfilling one’s whims and fancies, but serving people and public interest.
“Mr Modi, history will also record that when the ‘Annadata’ (food grower) was fighting for his rights for 16 days on the streets, you were building a palace for yourself in the name of Central Vista. In democracy, power is not a means to fulfil your whims, but is a medium for public service and public welfare,” Surjewala said in another tweet in Hindi.
Also read: Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for new Parliament building
The Congress did not attend the foundation stone laying event even though many other parties attended it. The party has been accusing the central government of trampling the rights of farmers. They have been protesting against the Centre’s new agri-marketing laws.
Another Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out an interesting aspect. He the existing Parliament building built by the British ‘bears a remarkable similarity to the Chausath Yogini Temple in Morena in Madhya Pradesh’. However, the new ‘atmanirbhar’ Parliament building bears an eerie likeness to the Pentagon in Washington DC’. Ramesh also shared pictures of the old and new Parliament buildings and that of the Pentagon and the Morena temple to draw a comparison.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “The foundation for a new Parliament building was laid on the ruins of a liberal democracy.”
