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.

  • _lemmy_07@lemmy.world
    10·
    1 year ago

    Illegal enforcement is prevalent in Old and New Delhi. This happened during CWG, happening during G20 and will happen when Delhi hosts the next big event. All the “homes” will come back and demolished again, it’s a cycle.

  • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    As is tradition for G20 summits. Next they’ll be kettling protesters and sending in agent provacateurs like the police in Toronto when Canada hosted it.

  • Armen12@lemm.eeEnglish
    13·
    1 year ago

    “White Westerners when people of color actually want to be a part of the world”

    I expected better from NBC, not this racist garbage that reeks of Trumpism

    • Joyboy@lemmy.ml
      9·
      1 year ago

      These houses were there for several years without a problem, paying utilities and housing poor children and women, suddenly they are illegal because someone wants to use this opportunity for their own disgusting motives. While we’re discussing G20, you know what’s really ironic, it’s that in a country where 80% of the population would die of hunger if not fed by public welfare. They are serving delegates of foreign countries in utensils made up of gold and silver.

    • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      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@sh.itjust.works
          21·
          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.