Top court greenlights Govt’s Central Vista project with caveats but will it be another symbolic ritual?

Finally, India@75, the hashtag and slogan that’s being touted as the Narendra Modi Government’s crowning glory in perpetuating a new idea of nationhood, is a reality. For, its symbolic representation — a new Parliament building and a redone Central Vista — has received the Supreme Court’s nod. Of course, the top court, while clearing the redevelopment initiative and settling questions regarding changed land use and environment compliance raised in a clutch of pleas, has put in several riders to avoid any runaway ambitions or creativity. It has clarified that the Government will need the clearance of the Heritage Committee before beginning the project. But the fact that a dissenting judge in the three-member Bench expressed concerns about the Government’s lack of public consultation doesn’t quite assuage anxieties over the tampering with what is considered Delhi’s cultural landmark and iconic identity. The Bench has even made smog towers mandatory as part of the construction process to keep pollution in check. And the Central Vista revamp is massive as it envisages a new triangular Parliament building with a seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs and synergised administrative blocks, to be completed by August 2022. On its part, the Government has been arguing for a makeover of this part of Lutyens’ Delhi for its functionality and efficiency, claiming that it would create spaces for a more streamlined operation of Ministry offices and free up more citizen-friendly spaces. But the purpose is entirely political, an attempt at rewriting history and concretising a political legacy. It is the Modi regime’s attempt to overwrite our Colonial past and redesign an institution as wholly Indian, as representative of its people and epoch-making simply because no Government had thought of this before. Proponents of this line of thought cite examples of democracies overturning Colonial legacies, be it the Capitol building in the US or Australia’s current Parliament building in Canberra, which opened in 1988 and became a source of Australian pride. They argue that as the world’s most populous democracy, there needs to be a new sense of ownership about our institutions. Does that mean that we are doing away with all Colonial-era markers and rituals, or simply making a point to show the transformative intent of a naya Bharat? In short, it is a power statement that overlays the Modi regime as a change-making moment in history which is, in fact, an expensive indulgence of political egoism than the Spartan commitment to our Constitution.

Yet, tradition has been sitting easily with modernity in Delhi, where each successive ruler lives through relics and monuments that have never overshadowed each other. Delhiites themselves have never denied heritage its place — Rajput, Islamic, European or Colonial — and made it a part of their living history, one where Lutyens’ Delhi is a key chapter. There is no question of outdoing the elegance and classicism of design — the green pavilions, perches, cupolas and the islands are the only democratic spaces where citizens can move and roam around freely, catching the afternoon sun in the middle of winter and the gentle breeze of a summer evening. The cluster of offices would undoubtedly change the skyline as we know it and their ramped-up security would rob us of an indulgent spread in the heart of the city. Shouldn’t the Government be wiser to leave a legacy of policy and governance instead of seeking a place-based identity? And shouldn’t the Government be more concerned about upholding the dignity and respect for as well as independence of institutions in its pursuit of legacy? Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t quite like the “Lutyens’ world” and the power structures and codes embedded in it. “I am a representative of the non-elite world. For me, everything is about the people of India,” he had said earlier. But in the name of breaking elitism, one cannot justify point-scoring as a historical imperative. Or even the political economy it will generate — the project is expected to run into multi-crore tenders. There are fruits of preservation; they serve as reminders of what was and, as a reference point, help us learn lessons. There are no gains of demolition, forcibly reconstructing the past to suit our narrow ends. Given the secrecy around the makeover project, one hopes that the least the Government can do is to keep it transparent, consultative, reasonable and synchronise its character with the aspiration of Delhiites to be the citizens of a world heritage city. The city’s application, which was submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2013, lists Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone along with Shahjahanabad (old Delhi) as the rationale for seeking the tag. That sure will have a longer legacy than proving a point for the BJP’s election manifesto in 2024.