Congress terms President's exclusion 'black day' for Indian democracy

Staying away from the inauguration of new Parliament building along with like-minded parties, Congress termed the exclusion of President Droupadi Murmu from the ceremony as a "black day" for democracy, and blamed it on the "anti-backward class, anti-tribal" mindset of RSS. Congress mocked the function presided over "by a self-glorifying PM" Narendra Modi as a "coronation", and pointed to the police crackdown on protesting women wrestlers at a stone's throw from the inauguration venue as the fate of "people" under a "monarch".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "The right to inaugurate the new Parliament was snatched from the President. Women players were beaten up on the streets with dictatorial force. The three lies of BJP-RSS rulers - democracy, nationalism and save daughter - now stand exposed before the country. Remember Modi-ji, democracy is not just about buildings, but it functions with the voice of the people."

After the elaborate function, Rahul Gandhi said, "Parliament is the voice of the people! The PM is treating the inauguration as a coronation." Later, posting a video montage of police action on wrestlers, he tweeted, "The coronation is over - the arrogant king is crushing the voice of the public on the streets!"
An incensed Congress pointed out that on May 28, the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the biggest force behind a strong democracy, was cremated in 1964, while Savarkar, whose ideological ecosystem led to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, was born in 1883. Interestingly, Congress tweeted a sketch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi dwarfing before a giant statue of Nehru, with the caption that the BJP leader cannot reach the heights of Nehru, no matter how hard he tried.
Lashing out that Modi was using the election of first tribal President Murmu and that of a Dalit President Ramnath Kovind as "tokens for electoral purposes", Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said, "It's unfortunate that the first citizen of India had to watch the inauguration of the new Parliament of the country on television. The upper caste communal fascist stand of the RSS resulted in exclusion of Kovind from the foundation stone laying ceremony and of Murmu from the inauguration."
Congress units in ST-populous states like Jharkhand held protests over President Murmu not unveiling the new Parliament.
Party MP Shashi Tharoor said both BJP and the opposition have good arguments on Sengol, and their positions could be reconciled if BJP took back the baseless claim that the "sengol" was presented to Nehru by Mountbatten as symbol of transition of power. He said, "Let us embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present."