NEW DELHI: Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar hoisted the national flag at the new Parliament building on Sunday, a day before the commencement of the Special Session of Parliament. Flanked by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, he hoisted the flag atop the "Gaja Dwar" of the new Parliament building.
“It is a historic moment. Bharat is witnessing epochal change. The world is in total recognition of Bharat’s might, power and contribution. We are living in times where we are witnessing development and achievements that we never dreamt of. Our ground reality today is being reflected globally in the most affirmative manner,” Dhankhar said after hoisting the national flag. He used the word ‘Bharat’ as the country’s name.
“Heralding a new beginning from one glorious legacy to a new chapter in Bharat’s Amrit Kaal,” he later posted on micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter).
Union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Arjun Ram Meghwal, attended the ceremony.
Union parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi told reporters that the special session of Parliament will be held in the old Parliament building on the first day. The next day, after a photo session of all MPs from the old building, the MPs will move to the new building.
“The special session in the new Parliament House will start from September 19 and regular government works from September 20,” Joshi said. Meanwhile, all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members have been invited for a group photograph on Tuesday morning.
According to the bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, all MPs have been called for a group photograph at 9.30 am on Tuesday. The MPs were also being issued new identity cards to enter the new building.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had on Saturday, said he would not be able to attend the flag hoisting function and expressed disappointment over getting the invitation "quite late".
He wrote to Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody saying that he received the invite for the function only in the late evening of September 15.
"I am writing this letter with a sense of disappointment that I have received your invite for the flag hoisting function tomorrow at New Parliament Building only on September 15, 2023, quite late in the evening," Kharge said in his letter.
Rajya Sabha LoP further said that he is currently in Hyderabad to attend meetings of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee on September 16 and 17 and will return to Delhi late Sunday night.
"It will not be feasible for me to attend the function scheduled for tomorrow morning," Kharge said.
The new Parliament building, built adjacent to the existing one, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.
(With online desk inputs)