New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said shifting to the new Parliament building is a turning point in the history of India's Parliamentary democracy.

He said it was a momentous occasion for the present Members of Parliament of the 17th Lok Sabha as "we are blessed with the privilege to serve a part of our term from the old Parliament building and from today the latter part of the term in the new Parliament building".

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"This day marks a turning point in the history of India's parliamentary democracy," said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

The minister said whenever he crossed the Central Hall of the Parliament, he could not escape the attention of the plaque there with the inscription that the Constituent Assembly sat there from December 1946 to January 1950.

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"Today I consciously took back this passage to have a date with history,” he added.

Singh reminisced about the time spent in the old Parliament House.

"It is not only the personal bond that we MPs shared amongst ourselves, but even the bricks and walls of that building had stories and anecdotes to tell right from British times, down to the tenures of India's 15 prime ministers after independence," he said.

“It witnessed the sittings of the Imperial Central Assembly during the British Rule. The Constituent Assembly sittings also took place in the Central Hall of Parliament and after the independence in 1947, the old Parliament emerged as the hub of the highest seat of democracy,” the minister said.

He said that the old Parliament building will remain immortal for all times to come.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)