Ever since it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly constructed Parliament House on 28 May, opposition parties have started to allege that it is an insult to the president saying the new parliament should be inaugurated by the president. 19 opposition parties including the Congress party, which has been opposed to the Central Vista project from the beginning, have said that they will boycott the ceremony.
Now notorious propaganda peddler masquerading as fact checker Md Zubair has jumped into the debate by peddling blatant fake news. The Alt New cofounder tried to ‘fact check’ BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, but actually posted fake claim.
Responding to the Congress allegations of insult to the president, BJP leader and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said yesterday that former PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe in 1975, and after that former PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament library in 1987. “If your head of government can inaugurate them, why can’t our head of government do the same,” Puri had asked while talking to ANI.
#WATCH | In August 1975, then PM Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library. If your (Congress) head of government can inaugurate them, why can't our head of government do the same?: Union Minister Hardeep… pic.twitter.com/syv8SXGwIS
— ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2023
“From criticising the new Parliament Building and questioning its very necessity despite many of them advocating for it before but not executing it, Congress president and other worthies are now shifting the goalpost by generously misquoting an article a day from the Constitution!” Puri also tweeted.
However, the Congress party tried to dismiss Puri’s comments by saying that the inaugurations of the Parliament annexe and Parliament library were not as significant as the new parliament building. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called them subsidiary buildings. He tweeted, “But those were subsidiary buildings, dear @HardeepSPuri – an Annexe and a Library. This is a whole new Parliament! Doesn’t the Constitution say the President is its head, convenes Parliament & prorogues it? So shouldn’t she inaugurate it rather than the PM?”
But those were subsidiary buildings, dear @HardeepSPuri – an Annexe and a Library. This is a whole new Parliament! Doesn’t the Constitution say the President is its head, convenes Parliament & prorogues it? So shouldn’t she inaugurate it rather than the PM? https://t.co/SUIrHtPZgC
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 24, 2023
Responding to the Congress claim of “subsidiary buildings”, Amit Malviya tweeted that “the Congress is free to belittle their leaders’ accomplishments,” and asked “whose fault is it if Congress leaders were constrained by their vision and content building incremental infrastructure or worse lending their name to even the smallest installations in the precinct of the Parliament?”
Malviya also pointed out that Jawaharlal Nehru had unveiled portraits in the Lok Sabha chamber and the Parliament hall, and Sonia Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of Atal tunnel in 2010 and inaugurated the Bandra – Worli Sea link and the Railway Coach Factory in Rae Bareli in 2019, despite holding no public office and was not part of the government.
The Congress is claiming that Indira Gandhi inaugurating the Parliament Annexe on 24th Oct 1975 and Rajiv Gandhi laying the foundation stone for the Parliament Library in 1987 are not as significant as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the New Parliament…
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 24, 2023
Well, the…
In this argument between Congress and BJP leaders, Md Zubair of Alt News decided to jump in, claiming that BJP leaders were lying that Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe in 1975. He tweeted, “Hello @amitmalviya On 4 August 1970, President VV Giri laid the foundation of Parliament House annexe,” in an apparent attempt to fact check BJP. He also posted a link to a report saying that former president Giri had laid the foundation stone of the Parliament House annexe.
However, ‘fact checker’ Zubair actually published fake claim, because the incident he mentioned is different from the incident mentioned by BJP. Minister Puri and other BJP leaders said that Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament annexe in 1975, and Md Zubair said former President VV Giri laid the foundation of Parliament House annexe.
Both the statements are true, and one statement does not negate the other. Because Md Zubair may be unaware that laying foundation of a structure and inaugurating that structure are completely different events. Construction of a structure is marked by laying its foundation stone, and its completion is marked by its formal inauguration. Which is why the foundation stone of the parliament annex was laid in 1970, and it was inaugurated five years later in 1975.
Congress leaders misquote constitution to claim president is head of the parliament
Congress leaders including Shashi Tharoor also claimed that President is the head of the parliament, and therefore the president should inaugurate the parliament. Tharoor claimed that as per Articles 60 and 111 of constitution of India. But this is also another false claim, because these Articles of the Indian constitution do not say that the president is the head of the parliament.
Yes @kharge Sahib is right. Articles 60 and 111 of the Constitution of India make it clear that the President is the head of parliament. It was bizarre enough that the PM performed the ground-breaking ceremony & puja when construction began, but totally incomprehensible (&… https://t.co/fuan2AyMJm
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 22, 2023
The Article 60 describes the process of the president taking the oath before becoming president, and Article 111 describes the process of passing of bills by the parliament and the president assenting to the same. As per Article 111, after bills are passed by both houses, they are sent to the president for assent. The president can return a bill, but if the parliament passes the bill again, the president has to give assent to it. The president can’t decline a money bill. Therefore, the president has no authority over the parliament and is not the head of the houses.
Therefore, these two articles, 69 and 111, do not say that the president is the head of the parliament, as claimed by Shashi Tharoor.
Puri had also tweeted responding to this claim, “From criticising the New Parliament Building & questioning its very necessity despite many of them advocating for it before but not executing it, Congress President & other worthies are now shifting the goalpost by generously misquoting an article a day from the Constitution!”.
From criticising the New Parliament Building & questioning its very necessity despite many of them advocating for it before but not executing it, Congress President & other worthies are now shifting the goalpost by generously misquoting an article a day from the Constitution! pic.twitter.com/GUwexamcZy
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 23, 2023
Congress leader Manish Tewari then tried to fact-check Puri, by falsely claiming that another Article of the constitution says that president heads the parliament. Responding to Hardeep Singh Puri’s tweet, he claimed that President is the head of the parliament as per Article 79 of the constitution.
Article 79 “Constitution of Parliament “There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the council of States and the House of the People”If I am misquoting then @HardeepSPuri
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) May 23, 2023
is reading A different Const. https://t.co/71PxwNPHns
He posted Article 79 by saying, “There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.” Tewari even added, “If I am misquoting then Hardeep Puri is reading A different Constitution.” But actually, not only he was misquoting the article, he didn’t read the article that he himself posted.
This article states, “There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.” It makes it clear that the parliament consists of three components, the Council of States (upper house or Rajya Sabha), the House of the People (lower house or Lok Sabha), and the President.
The Article makes it absolutely clear that President, Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha are three constituents of the Parliament, and nowhere it says that the President have primacy over the other two. The president is a part of the parliament, not its head.
