Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nirvachan Sadan has acted more as an appendage of the ruling elite – perfectly in line with the classical populist authoritarian playbook.
"Modi leads India out of a lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse," declared a recent headline in the UK Sunday Times.
Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the central vista project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic to save people's lives.
Even as locals died, the parties went on in the beach belt, the casinos rolled on and the municipal elections became a priority.