New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that the old parliament building will be called “Samvidhan Sadan”. Modi in his last address at the old building said that we are taking leave from here and heading to the new parliament building on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chavithi.

Later he lead all MPs on foot to the new parliament building which will be the official Indian parliament from today onwards. He turned towards the speakers of both houses and made a request. I appealed to you and I hope you will consider it after deliberation.

Now that we are going there, the glory of this house should never decline. We shouldn’t just call it the ‘old parliament’. I request, if both of you permit, that this building should be known as ‘Samvidhan Sadan’ so that it always serves as an inspiration for us. When we call it ‘Samvidhan Sadan’, the memories of those great people who once sat here in the Constituent Assembly get linked to it. We shouldn’t let go of this opportunity to offer this gift to the coming generations,” PM Modi said.

The iconic old building, designed by British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, was completed in 1927 and is now 96 years old. Over the years, it was found to be inadequate for present-day requirements.