Ninety-two years after the acclaimed British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker designed the Parliament building, an iconic heritage structure in the heart of Delhi, a new, more spacious one is ready on the vacant land opposite.
But days ahead of its opening, there is uproar over its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Twenty opposition parties have jointly issued a statement announcing that they plan to boycott the inauguration, accusing the Modi government of “sidelining” President Droupadi Murmu, which they say is a “grave insult and direct assault on democracy”.
In recent history, very rarely an issue has managed to glue together the Opposition the way Modi’s upcoming inauguration of the new Parliament building has. The Congress and Trinamool Congress seem to have looked past their differences, for the time being, to jointly raise objections. Even the CPM seems to be on the same page with Mamata’s Trinamool. And that is why the controversy surrounding the new Parliament building is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
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Precedence or politics?
The opposition parties’ contention is that the new Parliament should be inaugurated by the head of State, who occupies the number one position in the warrant of precedence. The second position is occupied by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and PM Modi comes third.
But there are a handful of other opposition parties that have backed the inauguration of the new Parliament by Modi. These include the Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Janata Dal (Secular), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Apart from their respective political compulsions, this is also indicative of a growing realisation that opposing Modi on an issue surrounding a national symbol may not work for them.
The grand inauguration is set to take place as the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence approaches. But what would be a historic moment for the country is now mired in controversy.
The Modi government has often been accused of using high offices and constitutional positions to further its politics. It was with BJP’s support that Droupadi Murmu became the first woman tribal leader to have reached the highest office in the country. Many had seen the party’s move to nominate her as appeasing the Dalits and tribals. Now with Modi set to inaugurate the new Parliament building, the party’s intentions are being questioned.
The opposition might be raking up a controversy over Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building. But it is not a one-off case. Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that way back in 1975, PM Indira Gandhi had inaugurated the Parliament Annexe and in 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of Parliament library. And both the occasions had passed uneventfully.
They should feel better if they remember Oct 24, 1975 the day when Smt Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe! Or August 15, 1987 when Sh Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of the Parliament Library!
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 23, 2023
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Why a new Parliament
The construction of the old Parliament started in 1921 and it was commissioned in 1927. Originally called the Council House, the building housed the Imperial Legislative Council.
About 100 years old, over the years the existing Parliament building was showing signs of distress and over utilisation, union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri had informed the Rajya Sabha on 4 March 2020.
Puri had said that the parliamentary activities and the number of people working inside the Parliament building have increased manifold. Also, with the reorganisation of constituencies, the number of Lok Sabha seats is likely to go up and then the building, which is running short of space already, would find it difficult to accommodate the increased numbers.
The paucity of space in the existing building is such that during the joint session of Parliament, temporary seats are added to accommodate the legislators and staff inside the house. The existing Parliament is also fire unsafe as it has not been designed as per modern fire norms.
Two former Lok Sabha speakers – Meira Kumar and Sumitra Mahajan – and the current speaker Om Birla had requested the government to build a new Parliament instead of renovating the existing one.
The new Parliament is part of the Modi government’s ambitious project to redevelop Central Vista. The new building will have a Lok Sabha with a capacity to house 900-1,000 people, a Rajya Sabha and a common lounge in place of Central Hall in the existing Parliament, an informal meeting place for parliamentarians, public figures and journalists.
It will be located opposite the existing one in the same premises. Gujrat based architect Bimal Patel’s firm HCP Designs had won the bid for designing the new Parliament.
The existing Parliament will be conserved as an “icon of India’s democratic spirit” and converted into a museum. So will the other heritage buildings such as the North and South Block. Both of them will be converted into museums — one showcasing India before 1857 and the other India after 1857.
The new Parliament estimated cost is about Rs 922 crore. The government had set a 2022 deadline to complete it but work got delayed because of the Covid pandemic.
The Modi government has faced continued criticism ever since it floated the idea of constructing a new Parliament building. Its inauguration isn’t turning out to be different — politics never stops, not even for national symbols.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)