Explained: Making of old parliament, symbol of democracy in free India but a British colonial vestige

The morning of 18 September 2023 saw Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak for the last time in the old Lok Sabha, as the country's MPs geared up to enter the new Parliament of India.

In his historic speech, the prime minister spoke about the old parliament building's legacy and the battles it has withheld to uphold the country's democracy. The building, which was known as Imperial Legislative Council before independence, later gained the identity of Parliament House.

Modi reminded the nation how “the decision to construct the building was taken by foreign rulers” even though “we can never forget and can proudly say that the toil, the hard work and the money that went into the construction was that of my countrymen”.

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Herbert Baker – the man who envisioned the parliament

On 12 December 1911, Emperor of India King George V was coronated in New Delhi, after the monarch said, “We have decided upon the transfer of the seat of the Government of India from Calcutta to the ancient Capital of Delhi.”

Two architects - Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker – were then given a major task of designing the Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhawan (President's residence), North and South Blocks (administrative buildings), Rajpath (literally the royal path), India Gate, the National Archives building and the houses of princes around India Gate.

For six years – from 1921 to 1927 – the construction of the parliament building, then called the Council House, took place. In the British era, the building housed the Imperial Legislative Council, the British India's legislature.

Explaining how the need of the parliament building arose in British India, Historian and author of Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi Swapna Liddle told WION, “It was planned after the Government of India Act of 1919 created a bicameral legislature which required to be housed in an appropriate building.

In that sense, unlike Rashtrapati Bhavan or the Secretariat Buildings, from the very beginning it's primary occupants were Indians.”

How was the old parliament building constructed?

In the year 1919, a blueprint for the Council House was finalised by Lutyens and Baker, as they decided on giving it a circular shape which, it is said, the architects felt was reminiscent of the Roman historical monument, the Colosseum.

However, many believe that that circular shape was inspired by the Chausath Yogini temple which is located at Mitawli village in the Morena district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Commenting on the same, Liddle said, “That is a popular idea, but we don't know whether Herbert Baker had actually visited, heard of, or seen pictures of that temple.”

For Baker, the ultimate goal of building the parliament house was to project the power and influence of British imperialism and hence, he believed that it can be achieved by mixing Eastern and Western styles.

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Lutyens believed in the superiority of European classicism which Baker also agreed upon, but he said that Indian traditions had to be the basis of construction.

Thomas R Metcalf, in his book An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj, wrote, “In a letter to Baker, still in South Africa, he [Lutyens] described, facetiously, how one would erect buildings in the two chief Indian styles. If a ‘Hindu’ structure were required, he wrote, ‘set square stones and build childwise, but, before you erect, carve every stone differently and independently, with lace patterns and terrifying shape…’ If the choice were ‘Moghul,’ he continued, build ‘a vasty mass of rough concrete, elephant-wise, on a very simple rectangular-cum-octagon plan, dome in anyhow, cutting off square… Then on top of the mass put three turnips in concrete and overlay with stone or marble as before.”

Finally, the architect added a few Indian elements like chhatris (a domed roof atop a pavilion-like structure) and jaalis (a latticed carving which depicted objects like flowers).

What materials were used for the construction of the old parliament building?

According to the data shared on the official Central Vista website, the authorities had employed around 2,500 stonecutters and masons to shape the marble and stones which were needed for the building's construction.

The historic circular building included 144 cream sandstone pillars, each of which measured 27 feet. At that time, the construction's total cost was Rs 83 lakhs (approx $99,000).

It was the hard work and sweat of Indian workers that finally brought the Parliament building into existence.

Viceroy Lord Irwin was invited by Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra, a member of the Governor-General’s Executive Council, on 18 January 1927 for the inauguration of the building.

The next day, the British government's third session of the Central Legislative Assembly was held in the building.

As the British regime ended and India gained independence, the building was taken over by the Constituent Assembly and in 1950 it became the Indian Parliament's location as the Constitution came into force.

Now that the country has got new parliament building, the old one will not be demolished and the government plans to convert it into a ‘Museum of Democracy’ after the new Parliament House starts operation.

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