As Narendra Modi prepared to inaugurate India’s controversial new Parliament building on Sunday, India’s cartoonists got busy pointing out the absurdities of the situation.
To some, the decision to omit President Droupadi Murmu, the constitutional head of state, from the ceremony was a major lapse.
#NewParliament #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/1TDE2UJnyP
— Nala Ponnappa (@PonnappaCartoon) May 25, 2023
#MyparliamentMyPride pic.twitter.com/r02R4cLqt0
— sajithkumar (@sajithkumar) May 27, 2023
The absence of the president from this significant national event has prompted many Opposition parities to boycott the Sunday’s ceremony.
pic.twitter.com/7FnHvQbHSw
— E P Unny (@unnycartoonist) May 25, 2023
Not everyone has been impressed by the Opposition’s protest.
#NewParliamentInaugration #NewParliamentBuilding
Artwork by: @NeelabhToons pic.twitter.com/sTeLL8J6CT
— News18 (@CNNnews18) May 26, 2023
#ParliamentBuilding @ETPolitics @EconomicTimes pic.twitter.com/fPNDP43c5V
— R Prasad (@rprasad66) May 25, 2023
What has drawn even greater mirth is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision to make the installation of a sengol or sceptre a key part of the inauguration ceremony. The party has claimed, with dubious historical sources to back up its contentions, that the sengol had been presented to the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by British Viceroy Louis Mountbatten as a symbol of the transfer to power in 1947. It has been in a museum in Prayagraj since then.
Satish Acharya pointed out that this may just be a case of “WhatsApp history”.
Sengol & history! #sengol #NewParliamentBuilding @moliticsindia cartoon. pic.twitter.com/5uy3ERiSW5
— Satish Acharya (@satishacharya) May 27, 2023
Orijit Sen used a Tintin title to parody the plans, depicting Modi…
Read more
