Modi Opens India's New Parliament Building as Opposition Boycotts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a sleek new Parliament complex, part of a more than $2 billion project to revamp India's decrepit colonial-era center of government in New Delhi.

But the inauguration ceremony, which reflected Mr. Modi's usual penchant for Hindu religious and nationalist symbolism, was boycotted by his political opposition. And outside in the streets, the police were brutally breaking up a demonstration.

The majority of opposition lawmakers from both chambers, about 250 people, stayed away to protest what they called the latest example of the prime minister's overreach, which they say is undermining India's constitutional democracy.

In a rare statement of unity, about 20 opposition parties rebuked Mr. Modi for taking on a role they said was reserved for India's president, Droupadi Murmu, who holds the symbolic but important role as the custodian of the Constitution.

"The president is not only the head of state in India, but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues and addresses the Parliament," the parties said in the statement. "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building."

Mr. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has pushed back against such claims, pointing out that previous prime ministers had inaugurated additions and annexes in the old Parliament building.

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