Nagpur: All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday hit out at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for its comparison of the new Parliament building with a coffin questioning the need of the Bihar-based party for bringing in "this angle".
He also said that it would have been better if the new building was inaugurated by the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"RJD has no stand, sometimes they speak about secularism and make Nitish Kumar, who came out of BJP, their chief minister. The old Parliament building did not even have clearance from Delhi Fire Service. Why are they (RJD) calling the Parliament a coffin? They could have said anything else, why do they need to bring this angle?," said AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi while talking to ANI.
Earlier today the RJD had posted a photo of a coffin and asked 'Yeh kya hai (What is this?) in hindi. Taking to Twitter, the RJD today shared a photo of a coffin and asked 'Yeh kya hai (What is this?) in hindi. RJD's Shakti Yadav's later explained said that the coffin in the party's tweet was a representation of "democracy being buried."
Speaking about the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Owaisi said that it would have been better if Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla inaugurated it.
"It would have been better if Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla inaugurated the new Parliament House. But the PM wants to show that he is doing everything and nobody else can do it. As if nothing happened in India before 2014, and everything is happening now. It's the PM's way of individual promotion," he added.
Union minister Pralhad Joshi said that parliament is a temple of democracy and a befitting reply should be given to RJD for comparison.
"Congress can't tolerate good things happening in the country, they are lying about Sengol. Parliament is a temple of democracy, people will give them a befitting reply for the way they (RJD) are using expletives for the new Parliament," said Pralhad Joshi.
Aam Aadmi Party has also criticised the inauguration of the new Parliament building by PM Modi.
"BJP's mentality has always been anti-Dalit and anti-Adivasi," AAP's Sanjay Singh said.
Earlier today AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj tweeted in Hindi to say "An emperor buried Mumtaz in the Taj Mahal and the whole world comes to see it. Today an emperor has buried the constitution, and people will definitely come to see it."
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "No political comments should be made on the day when the new Parliament building is being inaugurated today. All political parties should rise above politics and respect this."
BJP said that it revealed the "cheap mindset" of those who posted it on Twitter and such people should be charged with sedition.
Reacting to the RJD tweet, BJP leader Dushyant Gautam also said the "coffin" comparison was "unfortunate." "
"This is very unfortunate. Today they are comparing it with a coffin, were they comparing the old Parliament with 'zero'? We were earlier sitting in zero?" he asked.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the tweet will prove the final nail for the RJD.
"This will prove to be the final nail in the coffin of RJD's politics. Trikon or Tribhuj has much significance in Indian system By the way the coffin is hexagonal or has 6 sided polygon," Poonawalla tweeted.
Twenty Opposition parties boycotted the opening of the new Parliament building stating that the inauguration of the building without President Droupadi Murmu "insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution".
Earlier today Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the new Parliament building to the nation by unveiling a plaque and installing the 'Sengol' in the Lok Sabha chamber.
