New Parliament Building Inauguration LIVE: 70 Cops at New Sansad Before Opening, CCTV Being Monitored; What's the Need, Asks Bihar CM

A staff of about 70 policemen of Delhi Police have been deployed around the new Parliament building for the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building. ACP rank officers are monitoring through CCTV. Security will be deployed around the new Parliament building for 24 hours, news agency ANI reported quoting Delhi Police sources.

Lok Jansakti Party (LJP) chief and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan expressed his party’s support for the inauguration of the new Parliament building in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister. Paswan strongly criticised the decision of 19 opposition parties to boycott the event and urged them to reconsider their stance.

“What was the need for a new Parliament? The earlier building was a historic one. I have repeatedly said that the people in power will change the history of this country. There was no sense to attend the NITI Aayog meeting today and also the inauguration of the new Parliament building tomorrow,” said Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said the call given by Congress for boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building showed its double standard to advance its “trivial politics” to turn votes in its favour by “pleasing certain communities”. Kumaraswamy said that the Parliament building was constructed using taxpayers’ money and not by any particular political party. However, despite this, Congress and a few other parties have chosen to boycott the event, arguing that it should be inaugurated by the President, who hails from a tribal community.”

The Parliament House building construction was started in 1921 and commissioned in 1927. It is almost 100 years old and a Heritage Grade-I building. Over the years, the parliamentary activities and the number of people working therein and visitors have increased manifold. There is no record or document of the original design of the building. Therefore, the new constructions and modifications have been done in an ad-hoc manner, according to official website www.centralvista.gov.in.

For example, two new storeys constructed in 1956 over the outer circular part of the building hid the dome of the Central Hall and changed the facade of the original building, the website says.

Further, the coverings of Jaali windows have reduced the natural light in the halls of two houses of the Parliament. Therefore, it is showing signs of distress and over-utilization and is not able to meet the current requirements in terms of space, amenities and technology, it adds.

“Completion of the new Parliament Building in record time is a matter of pride…Everyone should support it, but there are a few people who want to bring obstetrical to it, just to oppose PM Modi…Voters will decide the fate of those having ‘stomachache’,” said Maharastra CM Eknath Shinde.

Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenams leave for Delhi from Chennai airport to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.

Seers of Dharmapuram Adheenam to present a special gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India’s new parliament building, which is in the middle of a major controversy, features space for an expanded Lok Sabha based on India’s latest population figures. The new structure is seen as an indicator that the BJP will end the freeze on the number of members of the Lok Sabha if it were to come back to power in the Centre in 2024, according to a report by Scroll.

For over 50 years, the number of members of the Lok Sabha has been frozen, given fears that the different growth rates of India’s states would upset the country’s federal balance. But if the BJP expands the number, the result would be a significant expansion in political power for the Hindi belt, given its high birth rates and a fall for South India, which has better-implemented family planning measures, the report said.

With carpets from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, bamboo flooring from Agartala in Tripura and stone carvings from Rajasthan, the new Parliament building, set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, reflects India’s diverse culture. PM Modi on Friday said the new Parliament building will make every Indian proud, as he posted a video of the newly-constructed complex on Twitter and urged people to share it on the social media platform with the hashtag ‘MyParliamentMyPride’. READ MORE

21 Adheenams leave for Delhi from Chennai airport to participate in the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building.

The new parliament building will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, May 28. The inaugural ceremony will commence at 7:30 am with a havan (a ritualistic fire ceremony) and puja (worship) near the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

According to an Economic Times report, the old parliament building, an almost a century-old structure, was increasingly being found to be unable to service the government’s present-day requirements. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed resolutions to construct a new building for the Parliament. The new parliament building which took less than three years to complete, is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on Sunday, May 28.

A group of 270 eminent citizens, including former bureaucrats, ambassadors and veterans, on Friday condemned the Opposition for boycotting new Parliament building inauguration and claimed the “family-first” parties have come together to boycott all that represents India.

While it is a proud occasion for all Indians but opposition parties with their “skeletal arguments, immature, whimsy and hollow reasoning, and most of all flagrant display of non-democratic posturing, just don’t get it”, they said in a statement.

A democratically elected prime minister of India who has inspired a billion Indians with his authenticity, inclusive policies, strategic vision, commitment to deliver and most of all, his Indianness is “unpalatable to the Congress and other opposition parties”, they added. The signatories to the statement included 88 retired bureaucrats, 100 veterans and 82 academicians.

Expressing displeasure over the Congress’ stance on Sengol — the sceptre that will be placed in the new Parliament building in the national capital, the pontiff of a Tamil Nadu ‘math’ on Friday said “this is the same Sengol which was given in 1947 to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and it is the pride of Tamil Nadu”.

Speaking to reporters, the pontiff of Thiruvavuduthurai Adheenam (math), said: “We are disappointed by the lies that are being spread by some people. This is a great pride for Tamil Nadu. The Sengol went from Thiruvavuduthurai Adheenam, from Chola Nadu.”

“On May 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive the Sengol once again. It will be installed in the new parliament building. We are happy. We have been invited to Delhi, and we will be going there,” he said.

The Central government will launch a special Rs 75 coin to commemorate the inauguration of the new parliament building, the Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday. READ MORE

Amid the controversy over the inauguration of the new Parliament Building on May 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Friday once again hit back at the BJP, saying that it is the ruling party which is sabotaging the Parliamentary conventions and the Constitution of the country.

Speaking to the media here, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said: “The BJP is entirely sabotaging the traditions of the country.”

Pointing out the traditions of Parliament, the Congress leader said “the President of India is the part and parcel of the Parliamentary system and the Parliament”.

With less than two days left for the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday shared a video of the four-storey building, saying that the new Parliament House will make every Indian proud.

PM Modi gave a glimpse of the new Parliament House through a video, which he will inaugurate on May 28, with a “special request”.

Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said all parliamentarians should welcome the construction of a new Parliament building.

The former Congress leader, however, added that the idea of the construction of a new Parliament building was first mooted during the time of the P V Narasimha Rao government, but was later sent to the cold storage. “It (the construction of a new Parliament building) is a good thing. It is a good Parliament (house). It was proposed during the Narasimha Rao government but it could not be done. Now that it has been constructed, all parliamentarians should welcome it,” Azad told reporters.

“I have no opposition to it,” he added.

“The area enclosed by Mother Teresa Ceresent Road, roundabout Talkatora, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, roundabout Gol Dak Khana, Ashok Road, roundabout Patel Chowk, Ashok Road, roundabout Windsor Place, Janpath, roundabout MLNP, Akbar Road, roundabout Gol Methi, Akbar Road, roundabout GKP, Teen Murti Marg, roundabout Teen Murti and Mother Teresa Crescent Road will be treated as regulated area,” the advisory said.

Only civil service aspirants, bonafide residents, labelled vehicles and emergency vehicles will be allowed to move within this area, it added. Noting that many VVIPs and other dignitaries are likely to attend the inauguration ceremony, the Delhi traffic police urged people to plan their journey accordingly and avoid the New Delhi district from 5:30 am to 3 pm.

“General public and motorists are advised to keep patience, observe traffic rules and road discipline and follow directions of traffic personnel deployed at all intersections and remain updated through Delhi Traffic Police Facebook page, Twitter handle, website and helpline,” the advisory stated.

Around 60,000 Shram Yogis (labourers), who built the new Parliament building, will be felicitated by PM Modi on Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said. “Around 60,000 Shram Yogis have contributed to complete the construction of this Parliament building in record time. PM Modi will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament Building on 28 May. Prime Minister will honour these workers (shram yogis) at the inauguration,” Shah said. READ MORE