The Budget Session of the Parliament started today on January 31. At the beginning of the Session, President Draupadi Murmu addressed the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members in her first address to a joint session in the new Parliament building.
In a unique and powerful new ritual, President Murmu was given a grand welcome in the new Parliament building by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, with the Sengol, a cultural symbol of the government of India.
The President started from Rashtrapati Bhavan in a grand procession of the President’s Bodyguards, an elite cavalry regiment of the Indian Army. Meanwhile, the Sengol, the symbol of the rule of the government of India, was removed from its installation in the Lok Sabha and taken to the entry door of the main entrance hall, to welcome the President.
Mahamahim President Murmu, accompanied by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Rajya Sabha Speaker and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and followed by PM Modi was welcomed formally into the hall with the Sengol ahead of her, as bands played in her welcome.
The Sengol
Notably, this is the same Sengol that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted at his residence on the night of August 14 as a symbol of transfer of power. The Sengol, which represents the rule of the Indian government and the sovereignty of the Indian Republic, was made in Tamil Nadu.
The historic Sengol, which had been kept away from the limelight in a museum in Prayagraj as ‘Nehru’s walking stick’, was finally accorded its proud, rightful place at the hands of PM Modi in May last year. PM Modi had installed the Sengol, blessed by Saints and priests with sacred Mantras and hymns and with ancient Hindu rituals, at the Lok Sabha beside the Speaker’s chair.