The treasury benches have turned into a vaudeville of low mimicry, high-decibel sectarianism the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ cry is routinely employed for both greeting and heckling
The president embodies the sovereignty of the people of India and the State as a whole. According to convention, the president should lead all formal, ceremonial, and solemn occasions. But the inauguration of parliament was tailor-made to show the prime minister as the head of the state and the BJP as the sole representative of the people of India.
The idea of 'new democracy' is built on reviving elements of monarchy with trappings of a Hindu Rashtra and inspired by Hindutva leaders like Hedgewar, Golwalkar and Savarkar.
Parliament does not belong to voters depending on whom they voted for, or elected representatives depending on which party is in power. That’s why we in the Congress decided to stay away our absence is our democratic response to the yawning gap between what the PM says and what he does
THE metaphor of the “temple of democracy” is supposed to enshrine the sanctity of how Parliament amplifies the voice of the voiceless. To further extend the metaphor, when a new temple is constructed, the old deity is supposed to be carefully and ritualistically translocated with piety.