Visitors will see clean New Delhi streets ornamented with hundreds of thousands flowers. What they will not see are the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced.

The annual summit of the Group of 20 economies is the largest gathering of world leaders ever in New Delhi, with attendees including President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and others.

They will be greeted by some of the cleanest streets New Delhi has seen, ornamented by hundreds of thousands of lush flowers potted on freshly painted pavements. What they will not see are the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced, or the slums that have been flattened or obscured by temporary fences bearing the G20 summit’s logo and photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi’s government hopes the beautification project will help showcase the best of what the world’s most populous country has to offer, further cementing its position on the global stage.

Anything that might disrupt that effort is unwelcome.

    • @[email protected]
      1•1 year ago

      Thanks for the source. But I was saying they do not seem to have been served notice. I made that assumption based on this line:-

      ‘Residents … alleged that the demolitions were carried out in complete violation of laws … that eviction notices were only served as bulldozers were rolling into their street.’

      (Source: https://www.thehindu.com/article66838590.ece)

      I haven’t listened to the complete podcast, and I’m sure this is just one side of the story; the municipality will have their own version.