PM Modi recalls momentous occasions on last day of LS proceedings in old Parliament House

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday recounted the journey of Parliament right from the framing and adoption of the Constitution in 1950 to the abrogation of Article 370 while addressing the special session.

As the operations of Parliament are set to begin from the new building from Tuesday (September 19), PM Modi, while recalling his emotional moments when he first arrived in Parliament House as an MP in 2014, during his 50 minute address, recounted several historic moments which have been witnessed by Parliament in the last 75 years.

"It is the occasion of the past meeting the present," the Prime Minister said, while addressing the Lok Sabha on the last day of functioning in the old building.

He informed the House that in the current 17th Lok Sabha, there is the oldest MP in Samajwadi Party's Shafiqur Rehman Barq, who is 93 years old, while in Chandramani Murmu of the Biju Janata Dal, the House has the youngest MP at 30 years.

The Prime Minister recalled that right from first PM Jawaharlal Nehru's iconic "Tryst with Destiny" speech, which he delivered on the eve of Independence in the Central Hall, to Manmohan Singh, Parliament has seen the contributions of 14 Prime Ministers (including himself).

Parliament has also seen the sorrow of three Prime Ministers having passed away during their tenures, namely Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

The Parliament, he informed, also saw sittings of the Constituent Assembly for two years and 11 months, which framed and adopted the Constitution.

PM Modi also recounted the contribution of all the 17 Speakers, who have led the proceedings of the Lower House with dignity and ensured order, right from first Speaker Ganesh Mavalankar to the current incumbent Om Birla.

"Their conduct over the years has been a point of reference," the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi also lauded the framing of the nation's first water policy and industrial policy by B.R. Ambedkar and Shyama Prasad Mookerji under first Cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Right from the resolution of 1965 Indo-Pak war, to Bangladesh's war of Liberation to the Green Revolution, the Parliament has been a witness to several historical moments.

"It is a House where a party with four MPs has been in the opposition while a party with 100 MPs has represented the treasury benches," the Prime Minister said.

The PM also recalled the moment when bombs thrown by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt in Parliament had awakened the British Empire.

The formation of three states, namely Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, was also witnessed by this Parliament.

However, Modi rued the fact that the division of Andhra Pradesh with the creation of Telangana, which was also witnessed in Lok Sabha, was not an occasion of celebration, as it resulted in a lot of acrimony.

He also remembered the attack on Parliament, which he said, was an attack on the spirit of India.

Highlighting the momentous occasions witnessed in Parliament, PM Modi said that right from abrogation of Article 370, to adoption of the GST regime, to the liberalisation policy which was unleashed by former Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, to the dubious occasion when the cash for vote incident rocked Parliament, the Lower House has seen it all.

He also recalled the speeches of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha and the policies introduced by him like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, to the creation of the ministries of Northeast and tribal affairs.