G20 podium
Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Describing the inauguration of the new Parliament building as an “immortalised” moment in the country’s development journey, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that it will mark the dawn of a self-reliant and developed India which will also inspire the progress of other nations.
In a speech delivered from the grand and cavernous Lok Sabha hall decorated in peacock motif on May 28, Modi said the new Parliament reflected the aspirations and resolve of the “new India” to set and work towards achieving greater heights.
“Every decision taken here will lay the foundation of India’s glorious future… the way to empower the poor, Dalits, backwards, tribals, divyangs and other marginalised sections goes through here,” he said, adding “each brick and wall of this Parliament building should be dedicated to the welfare of the poor”.
As many as 25 parties attended the event while 20 opposition parties boycotted it, accusing the prime minister of “sidelining” President Droupadi Murmu.
However, Murmu, in her speech read out at the event, expressed deep satisfaction at the inauguration by Modi who, she said, symbolises Parliament’s trust.
Modi’s address came after he inaugurated the new building in the morning at a grand ceremony which included a havan, a multi-faith prayer ceremony and the installation of the Sengol in a special enclosure in the Lok Sabha chamber.
The prime minister said the nine years of his government mark a period of reconstruction and work for the poor’s welfare.
The building has been completed in about two-and-a-half years at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 1,200 crore.
