E-Paper
Lutyens’s bust to be placed in Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum
The bust of Edwin Lutyens bust, removed from the central courtyard of the Rahstrapati Bhavan, is set to find a new address in the Rashtrapati Bhavan museum
New Delhi:
The bust of Edwin Lutyens, removed from the central courtyard of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, is set to find a new address in the Rashtrapati Bhavan museum, which has several colonial-era artefacts.
The bronze bust of Lutyens, the British architect who designed some of New Delhi’s most iconic structures including Rashtrapati Bhavan, was removed last week from the central courtyard and replaced by a bust of C Rajagopalachari, the last and the only Indian governor general of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the installation of the new statue as a moment of pride for the people of India and supported the decision to remove colonial-era artefacts.
“The replacement of colonial-era paintings and artefacts with works rooted in India’s own artistic traditions is a noteworthy step. Sovereignty is not only important in political and economic spheres, but is also crucial in cultural spaces. This ensures that when citizens walk through these halls, they see their art, their creativity and their cultural imagination being celebrated in Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Modi said in a written message on the occasion.
According to functionaries aware of the development, the bust “has been placed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum” where it will be displayed alongside other artefacts including statues of King George V and Queen Mary, a lunar rock and an old car used by Presidents in the early years of independent India. The museum was set up during Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure as President.
Matt Ridley, a British biologist and the great-grandson of Lutyens’s had criticised the move to remove the statue. “I understand India’s wish to remove colonial statues but he was an architect, not a viceroy,” he said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, author of An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India, however, lauded the decision to install Rajaji’s statue. “I’m truly pleased to see Rajaji honoured by a statue at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was its first Indian occupant as the only Indian Governor-General of India, before we became a Republic and he yielded his seat to the new President.” “I have long admired his convictions and was a strong supporter of his Swatantra Party in my student days. His set of values and principles — liberal economics and support for free enterprise, combined with social justice; strong anchoring in Indian civilization and religious faith but without a shred of communal bigotry; and a staunch faith in the rights& freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, including keeping the government out of our kitchens, bedrooms and libraries — remain mine to this day. It is sad that there are so few left to follow him today,” Tharoor added.
The Narendra Modi government has, by developing new buildings, renaming old ones, or both, sought to shed the country’s colonial legacy. The top echelons of government no longer occupy North Block and the South Block while a new parliament building was inaugurated in 2023 (the old building, a hallmark of Lutyens’s architecture, has been repurposed as Samvidhan Sadan), and across the country, the official residence of governors, called Raj Bhavans, have been rechristened Lok Bhavans.
