By Kenneth John
After the 2024 Lok Sabha election debacle suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party, nature seemed in no mood to spare the saffron party. First, it was the leaking roofs and canopy collapse at Delhi, Jabalpur, Rajkot, and Lucknow airports in quick succession this year, some inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, later to be followed by the leaking roof of Pune metro station roof this month. And now the water leakage from the dome of the New Parliament building.
Heavy showers in Delhi resulted in leakage in the lobby of the newly inaugurated Parliament building, raising concerns about the weather resilience of the structure, which was built at a cost of Rs 971 crore. The construction was completed just last year.
Additionally, waterlogging was also noted around the premises, particularly near the New Parliament’s Makar Dwar, with several videos of the flooding going viral on social media.
“Better to go back to the old parliament building”
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav shared a video of the leaks with the caption: “The old parliament was better than this new parliament, where even the old MPs could come and meet. Why not go back to the old parliament, at least till the time the water dripping program is going on in the parliament built with billions of rupees? People are asking whether water dripping from every new roof constructed under the BJP government is a part of their well thought out design.”
“Leaking roof, bucket below like a scene from an Indian film”
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha spoke on the issue of the leaking roof of the Parliament on August 1 and called it a typical scene from an Indian film where the leaking waterfalls in the bucket kept below. While speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the issue, he said, “Roof leaking, bucket kept below, seemed to be a typical scene from an Indian film.” He also said that such a scene gave everyone a feeling of being an Indian.
Specialized committee to investigate leakage
Congress MP Manickam Tagore highlighted that the water leakage could point to potential issues with the building’s weather resilience and called for the formation of a specialized committee to address these concerns. The proposed committee would investigate the causes of the leaks, evaluate the design and materials used, recommend necessary repairs, establish a maintenance protocol, and ensure transparency by publicly sharing its findings.
Toon video on X mocks PM Modi
Congress on Friday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after water leaked in the new Parliament following heavy rains that lashed parts of Delhi this week.
The grand old party posted an animated video of PM Modi on X with the caption — “When the Parliament building was being constructed, the drone was out of order. It is not Narendra Modi’s fault.”
The video has PM Modi’s voiceover saying — “It’s not necessary that I inform them in advance that I am coming there for inspection. Otherwise, they will make sure everything is in order. But if I send a drone, it brings the information and they don’t even realize that I have inspected the site.”