Have club house rules been flouted?

The opposition parties are super big on protocol and decorum and those kinds of things. Which is understandable, since on matters such as whether cold soup should be had by moving the soup spoon away or towards the mouth are the sort of issues they have had a good chance of putting up a good show of late, outside Karnataka. The latest civics debate, too, has turned quite uncivil, with the likes of Congress, AAP, TMC, DMK, Left, RJD, JD(U), NCP, SP, the Uddhav Thackeray bunch of Shiv Sena, and Asaduddin Owaisi’s party all boycotting Sunday’s inauguration of the spanking new Parliament building. They are upset – sorry, furious – because instead of the head of state, the president, it’ll be the head of government, the prime minister, who will be inaugurating Indian democracy’s new club house. The president, on her part – frankly, the only one with genuine cause to gripe – has not let out a Murmur. Why the Opposition thinks the PM being the chief guest to the housewarming party is an opportunity for surrogate advertising for his party, with national elections next year, beats us.

The Opposition is also making strange complaining noises for the inauguration falling on Veer Savarkar’s birthday. Might they be reminded that it is also the birthdays of N T Rama Rao, Ian Fleming and Aussie pop singer Kylie Minogue. So, why this kolaveri, di?