‘I am happy that I did not go’: Sharad Pawar on Parliament inauguration

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Parliament building, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Sunday said that he was happy that he did not attend the inaugural event.

NCP is among the 22 political parties that had boycotted the inaugural event.

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“I saw the event in the morning. I am happy I didn't go there. I am worried after seeing whatever happened there…is this what Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru thought of modern India?….are we taking the country backwards? Was this event for limited people only?" Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member, said.

Pawar’s daughter and NCP Baramati MP Supriya Sule said that the function is incomplete with Opposition parties. “To open a new Parliament building without Opposition makes it an incomplete event. It means there is no democracy in the country," Sule said.

NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said: “We are a Democracy, not a monarchy. People of the country must yield power… It is saddening to see that our president, the constitutional head of our country, is not inaugurating the new Parliament building.”