Tharoor calls new Parliament building ‘soulless conference centre’, lacking in intimacy

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday (August 20, 2026) described the new Parliament building as a “soulless convention centre”, saying that its lack of coziness and distancing mirrors the polarisation of our politics.

Talking on the launch of journalist and creator Sobhana Okay Nair’s new e book, ‘Housing the Republic: A Biography of the Indian Parliament’, Mr. Tharoor claimed there was a “sure want to depart a bodily imprint on the nationwide capital”, however argued that not all adjustments are vital.

“The brand new Parliament actually does come throughout as a type of soulless convention centre, and there are numerous causes for it… They have this enormously excessive ceiling, which fully destroys any chance of intimacy. There was a coziness to the previous chambers which inspired dialog and alternate. Whereas there’s a distancing within the structure, type of fan-like structure.

“There’s a type of distancing, which just about appears to be a metaphor for the polarisation of our politics. That has additionally accompanied this transformation,” stated the four-time Thiruvananthapuram MP.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, the brand new parliament constructing is a part of the federal government’s bold Central Vista advanced, envisioned to switch colonial-era authorities buildings.

Inbuilt entrance of the previous parliament, the brand new four-storey constructing has expanded seating capability and is provided with state-of-the-art services.

The 70-year-old MP criticised the brand new constructing’s design for diminished the casual interactions and cross-party camaraderie that after outlined Parliament, notably with the absence of a central corridor.

In Frames | First look of new Parliament building to be inaugurated on May 28

An aerial view of the brand new Parliament constructing that shall be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Could twenty eighth, in New Delhi on Friday.

A view of the Nationwide Emblem of India as put in atop the brand new Parliament constructing.

An aerial view of the newest Rajya Sabha inside the brand new Parliament constructing.

A view from behind the MP seating space contained in the Rajya Sabha of the brand new Parliament constructing.

PM Modi tweeted, an inside view of the newly constructed Lok Sabha of recent Parliament constructing that shall be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Could twenty eighth, in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI Photograph/Video Seize)

PM Modi tweeted, an inside view of the newly constructed Rajya Sabha of recent Parliament constructing that shall be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Could twenty eighth, in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI Photograph/Video Seize)

Final minute prepartions of the brand new Constructing of Parliament Home, in New Delhi, as pictured on Could twenty sixth, 2023.

An out of doors view of the New Parliament constructing forward of its inauguration on Sunday.

An exquisite carving of ‘Nandi’ cow atop the ‘Sengol’, a historic sceptre from Tamil Nadu, that shall be put in within the new Parliament constructing, to be inaugurated on Could 28, in New Delhi. The Sengol was obtained by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to characterize switch of energy from the British and was saved in a museum in Allahabad.

An aerial view of the Newly Constructed Parliament Home from the surface with the backdrop of Outdated Parliament, Rashtrapati Bhavan and North Block in New Delhi.

An aerial view the Lok Sabha gallery within the new Parliament constructing of India.

An aerial view of the brand new Parliament constructing that shall be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Could twenty eighth, in New Delhi on Saturday.

A view from behind the MP seating space within the Lok Sabha gallery of the brand new Parliament constructing.

A view of the Interiors of the brand new Parliament constructing of India, in New Delhi.

An inside view of the Lok Sabha gallery inside the brand new Parliament constructing in New Delhi on Saturday.

An inside view of the brand new Parliament constructing overlooking the balcony.

An inside view from behind the MP seating space of the brand new Parliament constructing.

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“The soullessness of the place, the shortage of intimacy, the shortage of encouragement of dialog, the absence of a Central Corridor the place casual exchanges might happen between present, former MPs, observers, and even the previous days media, all of those components communicate each to a scarcity of collegiality and conviviality throughout social gathering traces, which is a defining function of our instances in Parliament,” he stated.

The Congress chief sounded a pointy warning over the proposed growth of the Lok Sabha to 850 members, arguing that although they’ve the “bodily room” for it within the Decrease Home, the transfer will take away any “spirit of significant parliamentary dialogue and deliberation.” In a pointed comparability, he stated MPs could possibly be lowered to “a complete bunch of strangers” who would “ritually, just like the Chinese language Individuals’s Consultative Congress, be thumping their tables in uniform applause when the nice chief makes bulletins.” “If that’s the intention, then that’s actually not what we have all understood by the aim of a Parliament,” he added.

That stated, Mr. Tharoor did give the brand new Parliament some credit score, saying it eradicated the “inconvenience” of the previous seating association, the place members needed to “squeeze collectively” and actually squeeze previous the knees of colleagues to succeed in the aisle. “That inconvenience has been eradicated.” Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, who was among the many panellists, was equally scathing concerning the new Parliament.

He dismissed its aesthetics outright, saying he does not like “something of it.” For Mr. Brittas, the larger concern is what the constructing represents amid the decline in parliamentary debate.

“Having a brand new constructing does not make any sense to the Parliament or Parliament discourse. What’s the content material, substance of the Parliament? That’s way more essential,” he stated, including that parliamentary discourse had “plummeted to the bottom.” He additionally questioned the secrecy surrounding the brand new constructing’s value, contrasting it with the transparency over the previous Parliament, initially often called the Council Home, which was constructed in the course of the British Raj.

“Eighty-three lakhs had been spent for the Parliament,” Mr. Brittas stated.

He stated that when he requested concerning the new constructing’s precise expenditure, “The response I obtained? It is a secret. It can’t be divulged.” Printed by Bloomsbury, ‘Housing the Republic’ traces the lived historical past of India’s iconic Parliament Home from its 1919 origins to the creation of the brand new constructing in 2023.