NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu was on Thursday welcomed at the Parliament Building by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with an official carrying the 'Sengol', adopted as a cultural symbol by the government.
The President will address the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament following the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha and the formation of the new government led by Prime Minister Modi.
The President was given a guard of honour in the lawns of the Parliament building and was escorted to the Lok Sabha chamber by Dhankhar, Modi, Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Ahead of President Murmu's arrival, Rajeev Sharma, a senior Marshal in the Lok Sabha and dressed in traditional attire with decorated scarf and a turban, removed the Sengol and walked in a procession with Speaker Birla amid drum rolls.
The vice president, the prime minister and the Lok Sabha Speaker welcomed the President at the Gaja Dwar of the Parliament building and proceeded to the Lok Sabha chamber in a procession led by the officer carrying the Sengol reverentially.