In a statement made on Thursday as BJP members and supporters greeted him warmly upon his return, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he used every moment of his six-day trip across three nations for the benefit of India.Speaking to the crowd that had gathered outside the Palam airport to welcome him, he said that during the Sydney event for the Indian community where he had spoken, not only Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australias ruling party functionaries, but also former prime minister and members of opposition parties were present.Modi praised this display of “democratic soul and strength,” saying that this was the “atmosphere of democracy” in which everyone participated in the Indian communitys programming. The statement was made by PM Modi after returning from a three-nation tour of Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia.The target of Modis jab was the 21 opposition parties that had chosen to abstain from the inauguration event because the PM had chosen to preside over it rather than President Droupadi Murmu. The opposition parties, including Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, declared in a joint statement that they saw no purpose in a new building once Parliament had lost its democratic essence and declared that they will not attend the opening of the new Parliament building.However, other parties, including the TDP, YSRCP, and Biju Janata Dal, though they are not members of NDA have chosen to attend the event scheduled for May 28.The oppositions boycott was swiftly condemned by the NDA as a “contempt for the very essence of democracy”.
