'No rights violated': SC rejects petition seeking Parliament opening by Murmu

New Delhi, May 26

Two days before the scheduled inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking a direction for its inauguration by President Droupadi Murmu as it wondered what fundamental rights of the petitioner were violated.

This, even as the war of words over the inauguration escalated with the Congress questioning the symbolism of “Sengol” in the transfer of power by the British to India and the BJP accusing the opposition party of hating Indian traditions.

UP carpets, Haryana bricks in new building

• New Parliament has carpets from Mirzapur (UP), and stone carvings and sandstone from Rajasthan
• Fly ash bricks used in construction have been sourced from Haryana; teakwood from Nagpur
• Steel structure for false ceilings is from Daman and Diu while the furniture is from Mumbai
• Environment-friendly M-sand used for concrete mixture is from Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana

A Vacation Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and PS Narasimha dismissed the PIL filed by advocate CR Jaya Sukin after he failed to make out a case for the Supreme Court’s intervention in the matter under Article 32 of the Constitution, which is meant for enforcement of fundamental rights.

Pride of every Indian

The new Parliament building will make every Indian proud. I have a special request — share the (Parl) video with your own voice-over. —Narendra Modi, PM

Eyeing political ends

The sceptre Sengol is now being used by PM Modi and his drum-beaters for their political ends in Tamil Nadu. —Jairam Ramesh, Congress Gen Secy

“What’s your interest?… We don’t understand why you come up with such petitions… we are not interested in entertaining it under Article 32,” the Bench said. “The head of the Executive is the President,” the petitioner asserted. As he referred to Article 79 of the Constitution and said Parliament comprised the President and the two Houses and insisted that the President as the head of Parliament should inaugurate the new building, the Bench asked “how was Article 79 related to the inauguration?” The petitioner sought to withdraw the PIL after the Bench made it clear that it would dismiss it.

However, the Bench went on to dismiss the PIL after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the petitioner would go to other forums and raise the issue again.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament on May 28.

Also, the PM shared a 1.48 minute video of the new building offering glimpses into its architecture, chambers and spaces. Launching the “MyParliamentMyPride” Twitter hashtag, he invited citizens to share the video.

Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh locked horns over ‘Sengol’. After Ramesh claimed there was no documented evidence of Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru describing the ‘Sengol’ as a symbol of transfer of power by the British to India and all related claims were “bogus”, Shah tweeted, “Why does the Congress hate Indian traditions and culture so much? A sacred Sengol was given to Pandit Nehru by a holy Saivite Mutt from Tamil Nadu to symbolise India’s freedom, but it was banished to a museum as a ‘walking stick’.”

Meanwhile, in a statement posted on Facebook, Saivite Mutt Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam defended the historicity of the ‘Sengol’ and its relevance to transfer of power.