‘Old Parliament was the council chamber of a colonial power’, says Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Petroleum
and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the new Parliament build- ing, constructed as part of the Central Vista Redevel- opment Project, would be talked about in the future because of its latest technol- ogy and quality of capturing Indian history and culture.
Sharing his experience at ‘Capital Dialogue’ 2023,
Ramesh, among others, ad- vocating for the building of a new parliament.
Recounting the hurdles faced during the construc- tion of the new building, Puri said,” Some liberal friends went to court, filed petitions and sought not just closure of the work but disruption of the whole thing. So I had the privilege of silently bear- ing the trolls of some of my colleagues from other par- ties. The petition was signed by 106 very eminent people who included former foreign secretaries, cabinet secretar-
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri at ‘Capital Dialogue’ 2023 in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Member of the Rajya Sabha Kartikeya Sharma at ‘Capital Dialogue’ 2023 in New Delhi on Wednesday.
against any government. They (Congress) used it 100 times. One Prime Minister alone used Article 356, 50 times and they are talking about agencies. I think it is system anchored in the law and if you have faith in the system, he should come to parliament and talk.” Puri, who also holds Petroleum and Natural Gas portfolio, said the government has in- vited major oil companies of the world to undertake ex- ploration and production of crude oil in the country. ”We are in a position where we
a special series organised by Newx and The Sunday Guardian Foundation to mark the foundation of India’s new Parliament building in the city, he said the old Parliament build- ing was council chamber of a colonial power and a strong need was felt for the new building. ”We needed a new Parliament building. Frankly, we should have got it 50 years earlier. The fact of the matter is that the old building, conceptualised in 1912 and operationalised in 1926, was never designed to be the parliament of the in- dependent and economically growing India. It was the council chamber of a colonial power. It was not that it was not part of the narrative but when you read internal files of the government then you get to know that there were a lot of people who wanted it,” he said.
He pointed out that there were letters written by the former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Urban De- velopment Secretary and Congress leader Jayaram
IN RAJASTHAN
ies. I suspect they had not read when they signed the petition because I normally regard them as reasonably intelligent people. They claimed that a large number of Jamun trees were going to be uprooted. I allowed the project to proceed and one day I invited some friends from the media, took them to the Kartavya Path and asked them to inquire about the trees. They burst out laughing as we were stand- ing under a huge Jamun tree which was under full bloom. The fact of the mat- ter is that there is an entire ecosystem out there which worked overtime to first stall the project. They said parlia- ment is not necessary.”
When asked whether any attempt was made to per- suade the Opposition to join the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament build- ing, the minister said he was sorry that the Opposition members deprived them- selves of the opportunity to join the moment of the cel- ebration. ”The Opposition boycotted the ‘Bhoomipujan’
also. I was instructed by the honourable Prime Minister to visit Dr Manmohar Singh (former Prime Minister) and say that the Prime Minister personally would be very happy if Dr Singh could grace the occasion. I went to see him. He was not well. But he said that he would come. I think it’s only a matter of time before the efforts we made to reach out to them will find a way in the public domain and the people will find out. However, some ar- gue that in fact some of them wanted to avoid personal embarrassment because they are suspended. Given the solemnity of the occa- sion and given the fact that you are making the building not just for this government, this is going to be around for a long time. When you as- pire to be the Leader of the House, you should show a sense of grace,” Puri said.
To a question, he said there are several central halls in the new building and there is no shortage of space. He also said the new parlia- ment would be open for the
AGAINST AN ALLIANCE
general people.
When he was asked about the controversy related to “Sengol” and absence of the President from the inau- guration, the minister said, ”We are a 7000 year old civilization. According to a Cambridge historian, India’s contribution to the global GDP in 1750 was 25 -27%.
After 190 years of colonial domination, it came hurtling down from 25% to 1 or 2%. The Prime Minister has said that in the Amrit Kaal when we complete 100 years as an independent country, we should be a developed country. I submit that we will be a developed country well before 2047. Given the current situation in India in 2023, we are on a way to be- coming a developed country well before 2047. The Prime Minister said when we be- come a developed nation, let us get rid of the colonial mindset. Significance of the Sengol is that whoever gets responsibility of ruling, he will ensure that there is equality and justice and the people benefit from that.”
On whether the govern- ment has done exercise on the new members to be included in the new Parlia- ment in case delimitation exercise was taken up and concern of southern states, Puri said, ”I am not in a busi- ness of answering hypotheti- cal questions in a hypotheti- cal manner. The fact is that you have limitations up to a certain time after that the expansion will take place. I am absolutely sure when the expansion exercise is undertaken all the concerns will be taken into account. I do not think the southern states would allow you not be heard.”
Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his state- ments on foreign land, Puri, also a former diplomat, said,” Whenever he (Rahul Gandhi) goes abroad, he shoots himself in the foot. There are over 25 million people abroad who are of Indian origin and they iden- tify themselves with grow- ing India and today there is respect for India and the last decade has been on transfor-
mational mark.”
He pointed out that there were several occasions when Opposition leaders visited foreign countries but they did not make any statement detrimental to the interests of the country. ”This gentle- man (Rahul Gandhi) would have been 13-year-old when a massacre took place in Assam, 14-year-old when 6000 sikhs were killed in India in 1984. I can go on giving the names.. Meerut, Bhagalpur. You are worried about the treatment of mi- norities. I can understand. It’s because of the inferiority complex; he goes there and says minorities are under attack in India. There are many Indians abroad and they would come to listen to even jokers. When you go and degrade your own coun- try, you should realise that in the process you are demean- ing yourself,” Puri said.
On protest by the wres- tlers and action over their complaints, he said the legal process must be allowed to be completed. ”There was a parliament which was be-
2024 LS POLLS
ing inaugurated and there was a protest going on. To equate the two, I think would be an exaggeration. They (the wrestlers) were moved when they violated Section 144 of IPC. I am told that they asked for cases to be registered and that has been done. Outreach effort is continuing. Many senior people in the government are trying to solve the problem,” he said.a
However, he asserted that discredited politicians should not be allowed to make capital out of it. To a question, he said the party would introspect the reasons for the party’s loss in Karna- taka elections and take cor- rective steps. ”In state elec- tions, there are local factors. In Karnataka, our vote share did not go down 36%. We will seriously introspect. We will also introspect where correctives are required and we would be happy to put those correctives in place,” he said.
On the allegations of “mis- use of agencies”, he said, ”BJP never used Article 356
are increasing exploration and production. Our total sedimentary area is about 3.5 mn square km and we have just released 1 mn square km additional area for explora- tion and production. There are 4 or 5 major companies in the world. We are incen- tivising them to come and invest in India,” he said.
He also said India is mak- ing tremendous growth in the green hydrogen energy and blending of ethanol. ”We tried our best when I was the ambassador to Brazil, we wanted to have 5% ethanol blending in ten of our states and union ter- ritories. In 2014, we were able to achieve only 1%. The Prime Minister set a target of 10% for November 2022, we did it 5 months in advance. By 10% blending, we saved Rs 42,000 crore on imports and we paid our farmers. We had a target of 20% blending by 2030, but it has been brought for- ward to 2025. India is mak- ing tremendous growth in green hydrogen energy,” the minister said.