India’s new parliament building.
Photographer: Umang Shah/HCPDM
India's New Parliament Is Symbol of Modi's Nationalist Vision
Critics contend that minority groups are being left out of Modi’s plan to remake central Delhi and his articulation of the new India.
For nearly a century, Indian officials debated the fate of the world’s largest democracy from Sansad Bhavan, the British-designed parliament building in the heart of Delhi, its colonnades and classical architecture reflecting colonial tastes.
Now, as India increasingly asserts itself as a global power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the citizenry to shed a “mentality of slavery.” His plans include a controversial $2 billion project to modernize the capital and soften the influence of foreign aesthetics. Major government offices constructed under the British Raj are to be replaced — including Sansad Bhavan, whose rowdy halls, which once echoed with the distant sounds of bombs hurled by freedom fighters, may soon become a museum.