Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building early on Sunday and installed the sacred Sengol in the Lok Sabha chamber next to the Speaker’s chair. This is the same Sengol that was accepted by Jawaharlal Nehru at his residence on the night of August 14, in the presence of several leaders.
A special puja was performed, and Modi, dressed in a traditional attire, walked into the Parliament premises from Gate No. 1. He was welcomed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The air was filled with Vedic chants by priests from Karnataka’s Shringeri Math and Modi performed the Ganapati Homam. He bowed before the Sengol and sought blessings from high priests of various adheenams in Tamil Nadu with the holy sceptre in hand.
Modi then carried the Sengol in a procession amid tunes of nadaswaram and chanting of 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.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar and Jitendra Singh, chief ministers of several states and BJP president JP Nadda were present on the occasion. The prime minister felicitated the workers who played key roles in the construction of the new Parliament building.
The pre-inauguration rituals started at 7.15 am, with a puja with Vedic rituals, which continued for an hour. The pre-inauguration rituals went on past 9 am.
The second leg of the ceremony will begin at noon with the singing of the national anthem in the Lok Sabha chamber in the presence of all the dignitaries, including Modi.
Earlier, tagging a tweet by Union minister Hardeep Puri lauding the new Parliament building, Modi said on Twitter, “May this Temple of Democracy continue strengthening India’s development trajectory and empowering millions.”
He used the ‘My Parliament My Pride’ tag along with his tweet. The prime minister also re-tweeted several people’s posts with the video of the new Parliament building and their voiceovers.
In another tweet, Modi said, “Several people are expressing their joy on #MyParliamentMyPride. Through very emotional voice-overs they are conveying a spirit of pride that our nation is getting a new Parliament which will keep working to fulfil people’s aspirations with more vigour.”
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