Chakshu Roy on the 97-year-old building whose corridors and columns stand witness to a vast arc of history – from the time that it was the Council House of British India to when it became Independent India's first Parliament House, from the chaos of argumentative debates that shaped the world's biggest democracy to the consensus marked by loud thumping of desks that shaped many a legislation.
The power of the Indian democratic system is manifested in our Parliament, which has witnessed many historical milestones and thrived the Indian freedom movement from colonial rule. The current structure functioned as independent Indias first Parliament and witnessed the adoption of the Indian Constitution.
The inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28 May by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stirred a huge row between the Opposition and the BJP. Congress and others argue that it should be the President and not the PM who should be at the opening event. But what has been the norm in the past?
The President of India occupies the number one position in the warrant of precedence, and the Prime Minister is third, after the Vice President of India. But no one cares about constitutional niceties and protocol in the new India conjured up after 2014 and invoked to justify all actions of the Modi regime.