New Parliament row: Complaint filed against Arvind Kejriwal and Mallikarjun Kharge over inciteful statements on President's caste

A police complaint has been filed against Arvind Kejriwal and Mallikarjun Kharge for their inciteful remarks on Draupadi Murmu's caste. Both had termed the inauguration of the new Parliament building by the Prime Minister as an insult to the President.

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing row over inauguration of the new Parliament building, a complaint has been lodged against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and others for making "inciteful statements" on the caste of President Droupadi Murmu.

The complaint, which has been filed at New Delhi's Connaught Place police station, comes two days after 19 opposition parties announced to boycott the inaugural ceremony in protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "undemocratic acts" and "sideling " of the President. It stated that the political leaders made the statements for their own political gains with an intention of creating enmity between two communities/groups and distrust for the Government of India.

Kharge in a series of tweets had condemned the government for not inviting President at the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament House. "Mr. Modi, Parliament is the temple of democracy established by the people. The office of His Excellency the President is the first part of the Parliament. The arrogance of your government has destroyed the parliamentary system. 140 Cr Indians want to know what do you want to express by taking away the right of the President of India to inaugurate the Parliament House?" he tweeted.

Further, Kharge had wrote that it looks as if the Narendra Modi-led government had ensured election of the President from the Dalit and Tribal communities only for electoral reasons. He said that former President Ram Nath Kovind was earlier not invited for the foundation laying of the new Parliament and now Murmu was not being invited at the inauguration.

He said that Murmu is the "First Citizen of India" and the inauguration by her will "symbolise Government’s commitment to Democratic values and Constitutional propriety". He alleged the Centre of repeatedly disrespecting propriety and said that the Office of the President of India has been reduced to tokenism under the BJP-RSS government.

Echoing the same, Kejriwal also took to Twitter to criticise the Modi-led government for not inviting Kovind to lay the foundation stone of Lod Ram temple and said that the government was not even getting the new Parliament House inaugurated by Murmu. "SC and ST society across the country is asking whether we are considered inauspicious, that's why we don't invite?" he tweeted.