Heralding a new chapter by stepping into a new Parliament building, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for expanding the canvas to build a stronger India, and said all reforms and new laws going forward must have rising aspirations of the country as their priority.
Addressing a function first at the Central Hall of the old Parliament building, Modi said that a big picture cannot be painted on a small canvas and the idea of a grand India cannot be envisioned if the members do not think big. Later, the PM addressed as the first speaker, alongside the Presiding Officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, in both Houses.
Marking a historical turn in the legislative empowerment of women in the country, the Modi Government also introduced a Constitution amendment Bill, “Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam”, for 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies in the new Parliament.
Members bid adieu to the old one, which has completed 96 years of its existence.
In his first speech in the first session in the new Parliament building, Modi underlined the role of politics in the effective transformation of society and said Indian women have immensely contributed in sectors ranging from space to sports and start-ups to self-help groups.
Recounting the laws passed in the old Parliament building, Modi said Muslim mothers and sisters got justice as the law against “triple talaq” was unitedly passed from here. “In the last few years, Parliament has also passed laws giving justice to the transgenders. We have unitedly passed laws that will guarantee a bright future for the specially-abled people. It is our privilege that we got the opportunity to abrogate Article 370,” he said.
It was an emotional moment not only for the Parliamentarians, but the officials, support staff like that of pantry, gardening, security system people to be witness to the grand transition by keeping up with the heritage yet writing a history for generations to come in what will be called the Parliament House of India.
The old Parliament building will now be known as “Samvidhan Sadan” as suggested by Modi.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced that henceforth, terms such as “House”, “Lobby”, and “Galleries” used in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha will refer to the new building, which is now the Parliament House of India.
Led by Modi, several MPs walked from the old to the new Parliament building on Tuesday to attend the sitting in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha chambers in the new complex. Modi, flanked by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda, walked from the old Parliament building to the new one, with NDA MPs following them while raising slogans such as ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Matram’.
Lok Sabh Speaker Om Birla also walked to the new Parliament separately.
Holding a copy of the Constitution, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury along with Rahul Gandhi and several other Congress and Opposition leaders, walked in new building.
Addressing first in the Lok Sabha, Modi urged the members to reaffirm the commitment to make India a developed nation by 2047 and described the move to the new Parliament building as a new beginning towards a new future.
“We have a rich heritage! If this rich heritage is joined in by our dreams, our resolutions, and if our canvas of thinking expands, we will certainly be able to paint picture of ‘Bhavya Bharat’, we will certainly be able to fill colours in this picture, and offer this beautiful, colourful and grand picture of ‘Maa Bharti’ to our future generations,” he said.
Initiating the first day of the proceedings, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged on members to set a new standard of parliamentary debate by raising people’s issues, as he extended greetings of Ganesh Chaturthi, and called the move to the new parliament house a historic event.
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar stressed that it was right time to bury the strategy of “weaponising disturbances and disruptions in parliamentary functioning” as these are antithetical to democratic values. “This can never have sanction of our people,” he said.
BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said she is proud to be part of the moment when the government will be giving women “an equal share in future of India.” The senior Parliamentarian said she entered Parliament at age of 32, nine years after her husband Sanjay Gandhi’s death, and has spent most of her adult life in this Parliament building. “I have seen seven prime ministers and shaping of grand history,” she said.
The Prime Minister said the new Parliament building reflects the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. “When we are starting a new chapter, we should forget all past bitterness,” he said at Lok Sabha.
Modi said that the grandeur of the new building anoints ‘Amrit Kaal’ and remembered the hard work of ‘Shramiks’ and engineers who kept working on the building even during the Covid pandemic. He informed that more than 30,000 ‘Sharmiks’ contributed in the construction of the building and mentioned the presence of a digital book carrying the full details of the labourers.