Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building Sunday morning. Dressed in a traditional attire, Modi walked into the Parliament premises from its Gate No. 1 and was welcomed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Amid Vedic chants by priests from Karnataka's Shringeri Math, the prime minister performed Ganapati Homam to invoke Gods to bless the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
The prime minister prostrated before the Sengol and sought blessings from high priests of various adheenams in Tamil Nadu with the holy sceptre in hand.
Modi then carried the Sengol in a procession amid tunes of nadaswaram and chanting of Vedic mantras to the new Parliament building and installed it in a special enclosure on the right side of the Speaker's chair in the Lok Sabha chamber.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar and Jitendra Singh, chief ministers of several states and BJP president J P Nadda was present on the occasion. The prime minister felicitated some workers who played key roles in the construction of the new Parliament building.