Gandhinagar, Japan K Pathak: The new Parliament building is scheduled to be inaugurated tomorrow, May 28th, Sunday, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress and its allied opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration program. However, it is noteworthy that during the inauguration of the outgoing parliament by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, in 1927, Pandit Motilal Nehru (father of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru) – Rahul Gandhi’s great-great-grandfather – along with several other Congress leaders, attended the event, despite the ongoing independence movement against the British colonizers. This is in contradiction to the present boycott call by Congress when the parliament building is going to be opened by a democratically elected Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi.

The Viceroy, Lord Irwin had inaugurated the parliament by unlocking its gates with a golden key presented to him by Herbert Baker, the architect of the building. As per a news report of those days, the project for New Delhi, as a capital for a Government representing all of India, was inaugurated by the King in 1911. Work started in April 1913, but was much delayed by the war. The work had been carried out by Sir Herbert Baker, who with Sir Edwin Lutyens had been the architect for New Delhi. The Parliament complex was housing the Chamber of Princes, the Council of State, and the Legislative Assembly.

Presented below are the photographs and newspaper reports of the historic occasion with the existing (and outgoing) parliament building of India that was inaugurated.

DeshGujarat