Amid outcry, Modi lays foundation of new parliament building

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid foundations for a huge new Indian parliamentary building, the centrepiece of a grand but contentious redevelopment of New Delhi’s colonial-era core.

Critics say the 200 billion rupees ($2.7bn) that the Hindu-nationalist government is reportedly spending on the vast project could be better directed to fighting COVID-19 and repairing the pandemic-battered economy.

India is one of the worst-hit countries and has so far recorded more than 9.7 million infections and at least 141,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Modi, 70, also performed Hindu rituals at Thursday’s ceremony to kick off construction of the new parliament – a building meant to be the heart of the officially secular democracy of 1.3 billion people.

The project begins even as legal challenges make their way through the Supreme Court that could potentially scupper, or at least delay, the plan.

It also comes as tens of thousands of farmers, angry at new agricultural laws, blockaded the capital for a second week, in a major challenge to the authority of Modi and his reform agenda.

Project of a kind

Due for completion in 2022, when India marks 75 years of independence from Britain, the much larger new parliament will replace an old building that the government says is showing signs of “distress.”

Designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens in the early 20th century as the commanding centrepiece of the Raj, the area also comprises the grand Rajpath boulevard, the president’s residence, government offices, the national museum and the India Gate war memorial.

Modi’s overhaul of the sweeping, tree-lined and lawned vista will see it enclosed by rows of imposing new government buildings.

Some of the old parliament will be “retrofitted” and continue to be used for government business, while other buildings will reportedly be turned into museums. Some will be demolished.

Aljazeera/Olawunmi Sadiq