RJD compares Parliament with coffin; BJP cries 'treason'

The RJD's tweet came just as PM Modi began the inauguration of the new Parliament building, sparking a political war of words

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shakti Singh Yadav stirred a controversy on Sunday by comparing the new parliament building with a coffin, evoking sharp response from the Bharatiya Janata Party which demanded the RJD leader be booked under the sedition law.

While the inauguration ceremony was being conducted in the parliament house premises, Yadav- who is also a party spokesperson- tweeted a picture of a coffin alongside the image of the new parliament- a triangular four-story structure.

Credit: Twitter/@RJDforIndia

Follow live updates from the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building

The comparison drew a sharp reaction from the ruling BJP. In a stinging response to the tweet, BJP leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the tweet was a manifestation of RJD’s “cheap mindset”.

“A case of sedition must be registered against such people”; Modi demanded.

Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav-led RJD is among the 20 opposition parties that boycotted the event to inaugurate the new parliament building. The opposition in a joint statement had demanded that President Droupadi Murmu be requested to do the honours instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

AIMIM Leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi who also boycotted the event however expressed his reservations with the comparison made by the RJD spokesperson.

“Why are they calling it (the building) a coffin? They could have given some other example”; Owaisi said.

The RJD, however, stuck to its stance, with leader Shakti Singh Yadav saying, "The coffin in our tweet is a representation of democracy being buried."

"The country will not accept this. Parliament is the temple of democracy and it is the place to have discussions," Yadav added.

Later, RJD tried to explain its position on the issue in a series of tweets from the party’s official handle alluding that the comparison symbolised the “burial of democracy”.

In a related development in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party leader, and former minister Swami Prasad Maurya criticised the Modi government for inviting “only fundamentalist Brahmin gurus” for the installation of ‘Sengol’ in the Lok Sabha.

“It is extremely unfortunate that only fundamentalist Brahmin gurus of the South were called in the installation of ‘Sengol’. If the BJP government had faith in India as a secular sovereign nation, then all the religious leaders of the country, such as Buddhist Dharmacharyas (monks), Jain Acharyas (sages), Guru Granthis, Muslim religious leaders (Maulana), Christian religious leaders (Pastor) etc. should have been invited”; Maurya tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi installed the golden scepter beside the Lok Sabha speaker’s chair Sunday morning amid vedic chants by priests of Karnataka’s Shringeri Math.