The realities of Lutyens' Delhi

Connaught Place

And the making of New Delhi

Swapna Liddle

Speaking Tiger 

Pages: 175; Price: Rs 499

Asked if he had any regrets about his first tenure as prime minister, Narendra Modi at a TV interview last week said: “I could never make Lutyens’ world part of me nor me part of them.” He was referring to the upscale areas in central Delhi that houses ministers, bureaucrats, and senior army officers, and is idiomatic of the ruling establishment of the country. The jury is still out on whether or not such an establishment actually exists, but there is general consensus on one fact: British architect Edwin Lutyens, one of the chief planners of New Delhi, had little to do with the neighbourhood in the national capital that commonly bears his name.

In her new book, which chronicles the establishment of the city as the capital of the British Indian empire and then of the independent nation, historian Swapna Liddle writes: “The evolution of the town plan of New Delhi... can be traced through the notes and correspondence of the principal players... In particular [architect Henry Vaughan] Lanchester and [Viceroy Lord] Hardinge were crucial in determining the fundamentals of the final scheme. ...Yet... in the decades to come, [their] contributions would be all but forgotten, and New Delhi would be popularly known as ‘Lutyens’ Delhi’.” 

The current book is a follow-up or sequel of sorts to Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi, in which Ms Liddle — a professor of history who also conducts heritage walks with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) — had written about the establishment of Shahjahanabad, commonly called Old Delhi, in the 17th century and its eventful life till current times. In Connaught Place, she takes the story forward to 1911, when the decision to move the capital of the British Indian Empire from Calcutta (now Kolkata) was announced at a coronation durbar for Emperor George V to how the plan was executed to current times, when the city continues to expand at a rapid pace.

In the Introduction, she reveals to the reader the germination of this book: “I first set out to examine New Delhi’s architectural and historic significance in some detail as part of a project undertaken by the Delhi Chapter of the INTACH... [for] a dossier, applying to UNESCO for recognition of two cities of Delhi — Shahjahanabad and New Delhi for World Heritage City status.” This recognition never materialised but these two books, read separately or together, provides an easy access to this historic city’s past and how that shapes much of its present. This is of interest not only to current residents but to anyone eager to find out more than what they can learn on casual visits to its innumerable monuments and buildings.

Ms Liddle argues in the early chapters that the decision to move the capital from Calcutta to Delhi was rooted in a change in British imperial attitudes. “Many have seen the creation of New Delhi as the articulation of imperial authority — an essentially conservative, even regressive idea. A closer look at the official correspondence suggests that it was an altogether different kind of empire that was being envisaged, which saw greater devolution of power to the provinces, and by implication a system that was more responsive to local Indian needs.” Ms Liddle quotes extensively from these documents to substantiate this argument, which also seems to link India’s post-Independence history as a continuation to processes and developments before 1947.

One of the manifestations of this new colonial attitude was Lord Hardinge’s insistence on including aspects of Indian architectural traditions in the official buildings of the new capital, though Lutyens had a poor opinion of it. Despite “noble” intentions, however, the planning and construction of New Delhi was deeply influenced by the hierarchal colonial society divided on lines of class and race, writes Ms Liddle. For instance, the highest officials of the government were accommodated in large bungalows near the Secreteriat; clerks were given homes at a little distance. Even among clerks, race was a determining factor on what kind of a house one got: “an Anglo-Indian clerk would live in a house twice the size of an Indian in the same pay grade.”

Despite the wealth of details tracing the evolution of the city through the 20th and the first two decades of this century, the book does not really end. To do so is technically an impossible task, because New Delhi shows no sign of slowing down. One complaint I have is that Ms Liddle has not written more about the underground metro, now the most important mode of transport in the city. (Perhaps another book?) She also lobbies against densification — which might create more homes — but, as Ms Liddle writes, would destroy the essential features of Delhi. In the Introduction, she writes that in spite of the large volume of literature on the city, “there is room for a concise, easy to write book...” Ms Liddle achieves this ambition marvellously.