The relatively heavy rain cooled temperatures in the capital.....
New Delhi, India is a country of 1.4 billion people. But the only face you see everywhere in the capital these days, after two days of hosting world leaders for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, is that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Narendra Modi at the airport and at the grand venue that was recently constructed to host the summit, but on practically every road, every few feet. Sometimes, two car lengths, at most. It’s a one-man show.
Having spent many of my growing and working years in New Delhi, the changes in the city for this mega event stand out schools and offices were shut for the summit, roads blocked for VIP movement. Sometimes you had to wait 15 minutes to cross a street as police cars barricaded them.
Vendors, otherwise ubiquitous on Indian streets and selling everything from fruits and vegetables to clothes, shoes and household items, were missing the past few days. They need a daily income from their sales to survive – but clearly don’t figure in the Modi government’s agenda to push India as the voice of the long-suffering Global South.
On some streets, there aren’t even the stray dogs that are a staple of all neighborhoods. They, too, were rounded up.
But if Modi was the hero of the diplomatic extravaganza, monkeys were the designated menace. Life-sized cut-outs of langurs have been put up to scare the monkeys that can run rampage in Central Delhi, which hosts most major embassies and hotels, and is close to the summit venue.
The relatively heavy rain cooled temperatures in the capital but the partly flooded roads also showed that you may spruce up the city but until you really fix the infrastructure, things are not really going to change.
It’s at the venue, however, that the deep stamp of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – which will stand for national elections next year – was most visible.
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