It is a matter of some concern to the professional architectural community that a legitimate competition for the design of the new external affairs ministry headquarters was scrapped for no reason at all. Held six years ago under the auspices of the Council of Architecture, the competition had invited entries from 14 well-known architects, among them Raj Rewal, Anant Raje, Charles Correa and others. Jaswant Singh, then foreign minister, had rejected the entries on the grounds that none amongst them was ‘suitably grand’ for a site as prominent as Rajpath. This, despite the recommendations of the architectural committee appointed specifically to select an architect.
Rajpath is an arena of great urban significance, equal to the Mall in Washington D.C. and the Champs Elysees in Paris. In the 70-year history of the site, since its original conception by Lutyens, there have been many additions, as would be expected of any important public arena in the capital of a newly independent country. Most of the ministry structures built along the adjacent flanks date back to the 1950s and 1960s. Without exception, each is a poor cousin of its antecedent on Raisina Hill, each a step away from the monumental tradition of design quality and construction workmanship set up by Lutyens. Phrases like PWD Classic, Government Moderne and Cement Baroque have often been used to describe their dreary monotony, mediocre design and poor craft.
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Gautam Bhatia