Office of President of India reduced to tokenism under BJP govt: Mallikarjun Kharge
New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday accused the Modi government of repeatedly disrespecting propriety by not inviting the president and former president for the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
He also alleged that the Office of the President of India has been reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS Government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the new Parliament building on May 28, after the Speaker invited him to do so.
Kharge charged that the Modi Government has ensured election of the President of India from the Dalit and tribal communities only for electoral reasons.
While former president Ram Nath Kovind was not invited for the new Parliament foundation laying ceremony, President Droupadi Murmu is not being invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament building, he said.
Noting that the Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India, and the President is its highest Constitutional authority, he said she alone represents government, opposition, and every citizen alike.
"She is the First Citizen of India. Inauguration of the new Parliament building by her will symbolise government's commitment to democratic values and Constitutional propriety," Kharge said.
"The Modi Government has repeatedly disrespected propriety. The Office of the President of India is reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS Government," the Congress president said in a series of tweets.
Several opposition leaders have said that the president should inaugurate the new Parliament House building rather than the prime minister.
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Dalit outfits call state-wide hartal over dental student’s death
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Various Dalit organisations on Monday announced a state-wide hartal seeking justice in the death of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj.
The hartal will be observed on Tuesday from 6 am to 6 pm.
As many as 52 Dalit organisations, including Justice for Nithin Raj Action Council, have announced the strike.
Organisations requesting cooperation for the strike said that no vehicles will be forcibly stopped and that all essential services are exempted.
Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakkandy in Kannur district, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
Police have registered a case against two faculty members on charges of abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, following allegations by the student’s family that he was subjected to caste- and complexion-based harassment.
Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani (KPSM), one of the organisations supporting the hartal, alleged in a statement that police had shown apathy in the investigation and were attempting to protect the accused in the case.
KPSM state president K V Padmanabhan and general secretary S Anwar alleged that the probe into Raj’s death was being deliberately misdirected and delayed.
While the family has firmly alleged that caste discrimination and mental harassment by faculty members led to the student’s death, police were attempting to divert the investigation towards loan app borrowings, they claimed.
The organisation alleged that this was a planned move to shield the real accused.
KPSM further alleged that by deliberately delaying the arrest of the accused teachers, police enabled them to secure anticipatory bail.
They said there was no confidence in the present police investigation and demanded that the case be handed over to an independent agency at the earliest.
