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.

  • emergencyfood
    7·
    1 year ago

    Have the courts found them to be illegal? There is a procedure to be followed for demolishing illegal encroachments. Demolitions of ‘illegal’ houses have recently been stopped by if I remember correctly the Punjab High Court.

      • emergencyfood
        41·
        1 year ago

        those house were illeagal

        First, the word is ‘illegal’. Second, the houses are only illegal if a court has found them to be encroaching on public property. Third, even if they are illegal, the owners have to first be served notice to vacate. (It appears they were not.)

        Also I mentioned the Punjab HC’s verdict because in India the judgement of a High Court or the Supreme Court establishes a legal precedent that applies across the entire country.