‘Leaders got new homes, what about people?’

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Central Vista project, in his weekly column Rokhthok in Saamana, saying “the PM calls himself a fakir, but the action to move into a 15-acre residence doesn’t fit one”. The Sena MP asked what people got amid the pandemic, even as leaders are getting homes.

The party has been critical of the Central Vista project that envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and new residences for the Prime Minister and the vice-president.

“A new Parliament House, a new home on 15-acre plot for Prime Minister and a new residence for the vice-president are being built in Delhi in times of Covid-19. The Centre must clarify if these homes are corona-proof. Currently, our prime minister resides on 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, a residence spread across 13 acres.

As per the new plan, he will reside in a 15-acre home. The Prime Minister considers himself a fakir, but all this does not fit into fakiri, such criticism has started now... Our leaders got new homes. What did the people get,” Raut asked in his column.

He further said that crores of people have lost their jobs and are staring at poverty due to the pandemic. “Because of Covid-19, 97% of the people are on the threshold of poverty. In April 2020, 13 crore people lost their jobs. People have lost the jobs that were considered safe. Everything is shut; only crematorium and burial grounds are open 24 hours,” he added.

Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said the project is not for Narendra Modi but for India as well as the Prime Minister of India. “It has become a habit of people who are against Modi to criticise him without gathering all facts. This has been going on since [alleged] Rafale [jet scam] to GST [rollout] and now the Central Vista project. The idea is to have a bigger Parliament. He is not building a home for himself, it is the PM’S residence,” Upadhye said.