Ervad Cawas Bagli, head priest of the Kaikhusru Pallonji Katrak Daremeher in Delhi, who was invited along with other religious leaders to recite prayers before the formal opening on May 29, 2023 of the newly constructed Parliament House, was all praise for the logistical arrangements when Parsiana spoke to him the following day. The religious leaders had been asked to assemble at a central place from where they were transported to the Rs 836 crore building. Bagli said that in addition to the Zoroastrian prayers he had recited there were two Buddhist prayers (Tibetan and Japanese), readings from the Bhagwad Gita, Quran, Bible, Guru Granth Sahib (and a recitation), prayers from the Baha’i faith, Judaism and Jainism. "I recited the Yenghe Hatam and Din no Kalmo,” he told us.
Above: Ervad Cawas Bagli (center) with other religious leaders at the new Parliament House (top)
Community WhatsApp groups began to buzz the day after the inauguration. A vocal traditionalist Yezdi Hodiwala stated, "It is a sinful practice to chant our prayers in the presence of juddins. The powerful staota emanating from their intonation should never be falling on the ears of people belonging to alien folds.”
"To create a fuss about this is nonsensical,” countered another. "We have been living in a Hindu majority country as respected citizens for hundreds of years and our rituals, fire temples and rights have been respected by the majority.” Wrote yet another, "If the government had not invited a Zoroastrian priest there would have been a hue and cry from the ‘secular champions’ that Zoroastrians are being discriminated against.”
The new building, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of Delhi’s Central Vista Redevelopment Project, is located on Delhi’s Rafi Marg which crosses the Central Vista and is surrounded by the grand imperial buildings — the iconic round old Parliament House, India Gate and the National War Memorial among others. Nineteen opposition parties boycotted the inauguration, stating that according to protocol the President of India, Droupadi Murmu should have inaugurated the building, not the Prime Minister. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of treating the ceremony as a coronation.