'Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat': How New Parliament Building Captures the Spirit of Every Part of India

With carpets from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, bamboo flooring from Agartala in Tripura and stone carvings from Rajasthan, the new Parliament building, set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, reflects India’s diverse culture. PM Modi on Friday said the new Parliament building will make every Indian proud, as he posted a video of the newly-constructed complex on Twitter and urged people to share it on the social media platform with the hashtag ‘MyParliamentMyPride’.

“The new Parliament building will make every Indian proud. This video offers a glimpse of this iconic building. I have a special request — share this video with your own voice-over, which conveys your thoughts. I will re-Tweet some of them. Don’t forget to use #MyParliamentMyPride," the Prime Minister said on Twitter.

The video shared by the Prime Minister gives a virtual tour of the new Parliament building including the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

FROM ACROSS INDIA

The teakwood used in the building was sourced from Nagpur in Maharashtra, while the red and white sandstone was procured from Sarmathura in Rajasthan. The sandstone for the Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb in the national capital was also known to have sourced from Sarmathura.

The Kesharia green stone has been procured from Udaipur, the red granite from Lakha near Ajmer and the white marble has been sourced from Ambaji in Rajasthan. “In a way, the entire country came together to construct the temple of democracy, thus reflecting the true spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat," an official said.

The steel structure for the false ceilings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers have been sourced from the union territory of Daman and Diu, while the furniture in the new building was crafted in Mumbai. The stone ‘jaali’ (lattice) works dotting the building were sourced from Rajnagar in Rajasthan and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

The materials for the Ashoka Emblem were sourced from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Jaipur in Rajasthan, while the Ashok Chakra donning the massive walls of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers and the exteriors of the parliament building were procured from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

The stone carving work was done by sculptors from Abu Road and Udaipur, and stone aggregates were sourced from Kotputali, Rajasthan. The new parliament building used manufactured sand or M-sand from Charkhi Dadri in Haryana for creating concrete mix for the construction activities.

M-Sand is considered environment friendly as it is manufactured by crushing large hard stones or granite and not by dredging of river beds. The fly ash bricks used in the construction were sourced from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, while brass works and pre-cast trenches were from Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

THE INAUGURATION

As many as 25 parties are expected to attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building even as 20 opposition parties have decided to boycott the event.

Officials said the havan will be held outside the new building around 7 am and the ceremonial sceptre Sengol will be handed over to Modi by the high priests of the Shaivite order.

The Sengol will be installed near the chair of the Speaker in the new Parliament building.

Former vice- president M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh among others are expected to be present during the formal inauguration of the new complex.

The triangular-shaped four-storey Parliament building has a built-up area of 64,500 sqm. The building has three main gates — Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar and Karma Dwar.

With PTI Inputs