Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the new Parliament House, installs the historic Sceptre in the Lok Sabha Chamber

New Delhi, May 28:
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, dressed in traditional attire, today inaugurated the new Parliament House amidst chanting of Shlokas, vedic Hymn that the world witnessed live.
The Prime Minister entered the Parliament premises through Gate No. 1 and was greeted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The prime minister performed ‘Ganapati Homam' to invoke Gods to bless the inauguration of the new Parliament building, amidst Vedic chants by priests from Karnataka's Shringeri Math.
With the holy sceptre in hand, the prime minister prostrated before the Sengol and sought blessings from high priests of various ‘adheenams' in Tamil Nadu.
The PM then carried the Sengol in a procession amid tunes of ‘nadaswaram' and chanting of Vedic mantras to the new Parliament building and installed it in a special enclosure on the right side of the Speaker's chair in the Lok Sabha chamber.
Several Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mansukh Mandaviy, Anurag Thakur, HS Puri, GK Reddy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP president J P Nadda among other leaders were present on the occasion.
The prime minister felicitated with shawls and souvenirs some workers who played key roles in the construction of the new Parliament building.
A multi-faith prayer was also held to mark the occasion.
The prime minister along with the Speaker and some other dignitaries later went to the old Parliament House.
The events to mark the inauguration are being held amid a boycott by several Opposition parties which insist that President Droupadi Murmu as head of the state should do the honours.
As the new building of India's Parliament is inaugurated, our hearts and minds are filled with pride, hope and promise. May this iconic building be a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality! May it propel our great nation to new heights of progress, Prime Minister said on the occasion.
After inaugurating the new building of Parliament, PM Narendra Modi took to his official Twitter account and hoped that this ‘iconic building' be a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality.
“As the new building of India's Parliament is inaugurated, our hearts and minds are filled with pride, hope and promise. May this iconic building be a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality. May it propel our great nation to new heights of progress,” he tweeted and shared pictures of from the inauguration ceremony.
However, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has launched a scathing attack on PM Narendra Modi after he inaugurated the new Parliament building, saying that a ‘self-glorifying authoritarian PM with utter disdain for parliamentary procedures' has opened the new complex.
The new Parliament building, constructed by Tata Projects Ltd, will have a grand constitution hall to showcase India's democratic heritage, a lounge for MPs, a library, multiple committee rooms, dining areas and ample parking space.
The triangular-shaped four-storey building has a built-up area of 64,500 square metres.
The building has three main gates — Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar, and Karma Dwar.
It will have separate entrances for VIPs, MPs, and visitors.
The material used for the new building has been acquired from various parts of the country.
The teakwood used in the building was sourced from Nagpur in Maharashtra, while the red and white sandstone was procured from Sarmathura in Rajasthan.
The sandstone for the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb in the national capital was also known to have been sourced from Sarmathura.
The Kesharia green stone has been procured from Udaipur, the red granite from Lakha near Ajmer and the white marble has been sourced from Ambaji in Rajasthan.
“In a way, the entire country came together to construct the temple of democracy, thus reflecting the true spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat,” an official said.
The steel structure for the false ceilings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers have been sourced from the union territory of Daman and Diu, while the furniture in the new building was crafted in Mumbai.
The stone ‘jaali' (lattice) works dotting the building were sourced from Rajnagar in Rajasthan and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
The materials for the Ashoka Emblem were sourced from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Jaipur in Rajasthan, while the Ashok Chakra donning the massive walls of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers and the exteriors of the parliament building were procured from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
The new Parliament building used manufactured sand or M-sand from Charkhi Dadri in Haryana for creating concrete mix for the construction activities.
M-Sand is considered environment friendly as it is manufactured by crushing large hard stones or granite and not by dredging of river beds.
The fly ash bricks used in the construction were sourced from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, while brass works and pre-cast trenches were from Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber.
In case of a joint sitting of both the Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.
The prime minister had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020.
The present Parliament building was completed in 1927, and is now 96 years old.
Over the years, the old building was found to be inadequate for present day requirements.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had passed resolutions urging the government to construct a new building for Parliament.
The existing building served as independent India's first Parliament and witnessed the adoption of the Constitution.
Originally called the Council House, the building housed the Imperial Legislative Council.
The Parliament building witnessed the addition of two floors in 1956 to address the demand for more space.
In 2006, the Parliament Museum was added to showcase the 2,500 years of rich democratic heritage of India.
Officials said the present building was never designed to accommodate a bicameral legislature and the seating arrangements were cramped and cumbersome, with no desks beyond the second row.
The Central Hall has seating capacity only for 440 people and the need for more space was acutely felt during joint sittings of both the houses.