![]() In 2020, a petition was filed to India’s Supreme Court opposing plans on legal and environmental grounds. Since it was announced in September 2019, the plan has drawn criticism from politicians, architects and heritage experts over the cost and timing of the works.Įven before Covid struck, Modi’s New Delhi revamp divided opinionsīranded by some as expensive, environmentally irresponsible and a threat to cultural heritage, the project will see dozens of new government buildings spread across more than 85 acres of land, including Modi’s elaborate new private residence. The new triangular parliament building is part of a major overhaul of New Delhi’s colonial-era administrative center dubbed the Central Vista Redevelopment Project. Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah had dismissed concerns last week, saying the “event should not be politicized” and that all lawmakers are invited to attend.ĬNN contacted Modi’s and Murmu’s offices for comment but did not receive responses. ![]() The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) considers him a hero, while its opponents argue that Savarkar’s ideologies discriminated against minorities. Some politicians questioned the government’s choice of inauguration date, which falls on what would have been the birthday of the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a leading figure in India’s Hindu-nationalist movement. “When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building,” the statement read.Ī cyclist rides past the construction site for the new Parliament building in January 2021. In a statement last week, 19 political parties announced they would boycott the opening, saying that parliament “cannot function” without the president and calling Modi’s prominent role in the ceremony a “direct assault” on India’s democracy. In the run-up to the event, they had taken issue with Modi’s decision to inaugurate the parliament building himself, rather than letting India’s President and head of state, Droupadi Murmu, lead the ceremony. ![]() The building’s opening has become a flashpoint in the ongoing political and cultural war between Modi and his opponents, who accuse the populist leader of being “ authoritarian” and “ undemocratic.” “But hundreds of years of slavery took away this pride from us.” “There was a time when India was counted among the most prosperous and splendid nations of the world,” he said, adding that the country’s expertise in architecture was exemplified in its cities, palaces, temples and sculptures. ![]() In keeping with his position as a leader who is intent on shedding India’s colonial past, the prime minister gave an impassioned speech from inside the building, calling it a “temple” of the country’s democracy and an “ideal representation of both the modern and ancient.” The gold-plated object was gifted to the country’s first prime minister on the eve of India’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. In a ceremony steeped in Hindu religious symbolism, Modi installed the “Sengol,” a symbolic scepter, in the legislature’s lower house. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s new parliament building in New Delhi on Sunday, part of a controversial $2.4 billion revamp of the capital’s historic center that his critics have called a “vanity project.” ![]()
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