According to The Times of India, PM Modi will inaugurate the newly constructed building of Parliament on upcoming May 28 2023, Sunday. On that day, Hindutva ideologist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, well known as Veer Savarkar, will have celebrated his 140th birthday. Last Thursday evening, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has spoken that Speaker Om Birla met the PM and invited him to dedicate the new Parliament, which will have a life of over 150 years with around 150% increase in the seating capacity of MPs.
As per the reports from The Times of India, published on Wednesday, the government’s plan to inaugurate the new Parliament building during the last week of this month and its significance with the date has been promptly announced and dictated. Savarkar was detained in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands‘ Cellular Jail during the time of British rule. The choice of the date may not be happenstance, given the reverence for the Hindutva icon in the ruling circles.
There was sparked protest from opposition parties during the rule of Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP on 26th February 2003, when incidentally, the portrait of Savarkar was unveiled in the Central Hall of the Parliament. Congress along with the Left parties had also known to boycott the ceremony. Due to the surprise win of the Congress party in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, a plaque put up by the Vajpayee government at the Cellular Jail in Port Blair, the site where once British severely and brutally tortured Savarkar, was taken down dramatically. This memorial plaque was then re-installed after a long gap of 11 years, in July 2015, just after Narendra Modi’s victory in the 2024 polls as the new Indian PM.
The Union petroleum minister Mani Shankar 2004 had decided to remove a plaque containing a poem penned by Veer Savarkar at the ‘sawtantrya jyot’ also called ‘flame of freedom’ at the Cellular Jail at Port Blair. The present building of the Parliament was completed in 1927, which makes its age about 100 years old. Even for the current needs, there is not enough room. In contrast to the 543 members currently seated in the Lok Sabha, 888 MPs would be allowed to sit in the new Parliament building. In addition, the new Rajya Sabha has a maximum capacity of 384 members, up from the previous limit of 250. Up to 1272 seats can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha Hall during joint sessions. This new opening of the Parliament is also going to mark 9 years of Modi’s government. The PM had taken the oath of office nine years ago on May 26 2014.
The four-storey building of the new Parliament, as per NDTV sources have revealed, is built at a cost estimated of INR 970 crores. Its grand constitution hall can showcase Indi’s democratic heritage with ample parking space and big dining areas. The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) has created a new uniform for the workers of both Houses. The new structure houses three main doors namely- Shakti Dwar, Karma Dwar and Gyan Dwar with separate entries for MPs, VIPs and other visitors, as per the officials. The foundation stone of the new Parliament Building was laid down by PM Modi in December 2020.