OutNeroing Nero! The Ugliest Obscenity! Central Vista Project in the Time of Raging Pandemic: Halt It Right Now!

[Sukla Sen]

I/III.

What an ugly obscenity!

A monument to the founding Emperor of "New India" - stripped of all vestiges of substantive democracy and pluralism.

In the midst of a raging human disaster - of his making.

<<Many mediaeval monarchs and emperors became megalomaniacs because they wrongly believed they had divine rights to rule and do whatever they or their slavish coterie of advisors thought was right. They wanted posterity to remember them through buildings and monuments [emphasis added]. They built opulent palaces and, since they lived in eternal fear of invasion from enemies, they fortified their seats of power. To many, building mahals and mausoleums were more important than building schools, colleges and universities. Instead of investing in research and discoveries that could have helped advance human civilisation, they filled stables with some of the costliest and fastest horses and harems with beauties. They exploited men and women both and whoever raised a finger had to rot in prison or face the firing squad.

Instead of investing in making life comfortable for the masses, these royals spent shamelessly on the ostentatious living quarters for themselves and their kith and kin. The gap between living standards of the royals and the rayots was gigantic. Many of the once splendid palaces, naubat khanas, mahals and qilas are ruins today. They suffer official apathy and criminal indifference from the agencies tasked to take care of them. Rulers with sense of public welfare are remembered with respect. Megalomaniacs with huge egos and short vision get tossed off the pedestals easily.>>

<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/beyond-the-burqa/stop-central-vista-project-build-hospitals/>

II/III.

<<Modi is not merely a prime minister in the traditional sense: he regards himself as nothing less than the father of what his admirers call “New India”. It’s hardly surprising that a man of such staggering self-conceit would sooner or later seek to memorialise himself for the ages.

And so what had been a relatively minor yet contentious idea to renovate or relocate parliament blossomed under his supervision into a gargantuan vanity project to raise a new New Delhi. More than £2 billion have been allocated for this venture. (In contrast, Modi grudgingly set aside a paltry £1.6 billion for all of India’s emergency healthcare needs in response to the coronavirus epidemic.)  The strange irony is that, in his race to immortalise his reign in stone, Modi, unbeknown to himself, is retracing the self-exhausting course charted by the British when they were at the summit of their power.>>

<https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2020/modis-ghastly-delhi-dream/>

III.

The World is watching. 

And transmitting too.

The Godi Media can no longer cover it up!

"Go, Modi Go!"

<https://youtu.be/bwGVZI5d-0I>

A CNN Report.

Putting things in perspective.

P.S.: 

Watchdogs as lapdogs!???

<<The senior advocate told the SC bench that the matter is of extreme importance as India is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Luthra said that labours from Sarai Kale Khan and Karol Bagh area are being transported to Raj Path and Central Vista, where construction is going on. This increases the chances of spread of novel coronavirus infection among them.

Luthra referred to the letter written by CPWD to DDMA for the continuation of construction activity in Central Vista on the ground that it is time bound work. On the ground that it was essential activity, permission was granted but how is construction an essential activity, he asked. Luthra further said that we cannot risk the lives of workers as well as their families and put more pressure on the country’s health care system, adding that the peak of the pandemic’s second wave is being anticipated by May 15 and HC has listed the matter for May 17. This wouldn’t serve any purpose, he stated.

The hearing on a PIL, which had sought direction to the central government to halt construction activities at the Central project due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, was deferred by the HC. According to petitioners Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker and Anya Malhotra, who works as a translator, the project has the potential to be a super spreader if permitted to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the HC, they have said that the project continuation was a matter of concern in view of the “crumbling” healthcare system as well as the lives at stake of the workers employed at the project construction site.>>

<https://www.financialexpress.com/infrastructure/central-vista-redevelopment-sc-refuses-to-entertain-plea-for-hearing-on-pil-for-halting-project-construction/2248262/>