Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s new Parliament House amid religious chants by Hindu priests.
This is not just a building called the New Parliament. Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Modi said that it is the symbol of the aspiration of India’s 140 crore people and it will be a proof of a self-sufficient India.
However, historian Mridula Mukherjee says the old Parliament building is more Indian than the new one. “The colonial-era buildings they are referring to were built in the 1920s and incorporated many elements of Indian architecture,” Mukherjee told Al Jazeera from New Delhi.
Opposition parties criticized the ceremony, saying the Prime Minister sidelined President Draupadi Murmu, India’s head of state and highest constitutional authority, at the ceremony. The scepter of the Chola emperor of India is placed in the new parliament.