Modi will never live in the 'Modi Mahal', says author Aatish Taseer

The continuation of work on the Central Vista project, which includes construction of a new residence for the prime minister, has triggered much criticism of the Narendra Modi government amid the COVID-19 situation.

The criticism comes amid the continuing spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths and shortages of oxygen and medicines across India. Last week, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) informed a government-appointed expert panel that the construction of the prime minister's residence under the Central Vista project will be completed by December 2022.

The construction of a new residence for the prime minister has been singled out for criticism, with many social media users lampooning it as 'Modi Mahal', in an apparent pun on the Taj Mahal.

Among those who criticised the project was author Aatish Taseer. Aatish Taseer tweeted on Saturday that Modi will never live in the 'Modi Mahal'.

Aatish Taseer tweeted, "I want to make a prediction, in full awareness that prophecy, as Salman Rushdie says, is a mug’s game: Modi will never live in the Modi Mahal."

In an earlier tweet on Saturday, he criticised Modi as manhoos (harmful, wretched), alleging, "he builds nothing, but knows only to destroy what others have built."

Aatish Taseer has emerged as an outspoken critic of Narendra Modi in recent years. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Aatish wrote the lead article for a Time magazine cover that described Modi as 'India's Divider in Chief'. The cover triggered criticism of Aatish by the BJP. In November that year, the home ministry revoked the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status of Aatish Taseer, on grounds he concealed the fact that his father was a Pakistani.

Aatish Taseer is the son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and late Pakistani politician Salman Taseer.

In an article in Time Magazine in late April on the second wave of COVID-19 gripping India currently, Aatish blamed Modi for the situation. Aatish wrote, "It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hubris, incompetence and callousness that are largely responsible for this catastrophic second wave." Aatish added, "As people lay their dead out in the street, as they did in plague-stricken 17th-century London, what Modi cares most about is Modi."

A number of Twitter users, in particular those associated with AAP, have tweeted about Modi Mahal. Using the hashtag Modi Mahal, the AAP Arunachal Pradesh unit tweeted on Sunday, "Shameless incompetent prime minister of India is busy building his new house, the while INDIA is going through the biggest medical emergency in modern times."