In a historic transition, the Parliament moved into a swanky new complex on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging MPs to forget all past bitterness and start a new chapter and the introduction of the women’s reservation bill taking centre stage.
Bidding goodbye to the adjacent colonial era Parliament building, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha met for the first time in the new home on the second day of the five-day special session during which Modi made an impassioned plea to both houses to unanimously approve the women’s reservation bill Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, which envisages reserving one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, was the first legislative measure to be introduced by the government in the new building, a day after it secured Union Cabinet’s approval. Shortly before the introduction of the bill in the Lok Sabha, Modi told the lower house that the government wants more and more women to join the development process of the country. “For that work of giving power to women and for many such noble works, God has chosen me….This date of September 19 is going to be etched in history.” The old Parliament building, which has stood for over 96 years as a sentinel of time and a repository of India’s democratic journey and where its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his iconic “tryst with destiny” speech” to mark India’s independence from colonial rule, will now be called the ‘Samvidhan Sadan’. The new four-storey triangular shaped complex has been named ‘Parliament House of India’, according to an official notification.