Tributes Paid To 'Every Brick' Of Old Building

Koushik Das

Oct 3

Prime Minister of India Narendra Damodardas Modi delivered an emotive speech while opening a Special Session of the Parliament for one last time at the old Parliament building on September 18, 2023.

As the old Parliament building hosted the session for the final time, the Prime Minister bid a farewell to it, saying that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the South Asian nation, had delivered his iconic Tryst with Destiny speech on the midnight of August 15, 1947. According to Modi, Nehru's speech continues to inspire each and every Indian till now. He also recalled that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said: "Governments come, and governments go. Parties appear and disappear. But this country should remain, and its Democracy should remain eternally." The late Prime Minister had made this comment when his government lost the Vote of Confidence in 1996.

Prime Minister Modi also paid rich tributes to democratic traditions of India, recalling contributions of former Prime Ministers, including Nehru, Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. Commenting on the old Parliament building's history, he stressed: "We have undertaken a journey of 75 years, and as we bid goodbye to this Parliament House, we must remember that though this House was built by the colonial government, it was built by our sweat and toil, by our countrymen and with our money." The PM further said: "We might be shifting to the new building, but this building will keep on inspiring the coming generation. As it is a golden chapter of the journey of Indian Democracy."

The PM did not forget to remember those journalists who dedicated their lives to reporting the proceedings of Parliament in the past, without the help of the latest technology. "Bidding farewell to the old Parliament building will be an even tougher task for journalists as they have been connected with the establishment more than its members," he told the Lower House of the Parliament.

Earlier on September 18, both the Houses of the Parliament were adjourned after a discussion on Parliamentary Democracy in the last 75 years. The presiding officers of the two Houses officially confirmed that proceedings of both Houses would resume at the new Parliament building on September 19, 2023.

According to sources close to the Government of India, the old Parliament building, which was built in 1927, would not be demolished. Instead, the government would retrofit the building for more functional spaces for Parliamentary events. The government has also decided to convert a part of the old Parliament building into a museum.

As the Indian Parliament moved into the new building on September 19, 2023, it is felt that more than a cursory look should be taken at the history, significances and transformation of India's architectural marvels: