BRICS: Delhi Slums Covered with Curtains! Will It Change Reality?

Viral videos showing large blue-and-white curtains covering a slum settlement in South Delhi have gone viral on social media, raising questions over how Bharat’s national capital is presenting itself while hosting the 18th BRICS Summit.

The curtains have been placed around Coolie Camp in Vasant Vihar, along Nelson Mandela Marg and Munirka Marg. The area is said to have around 281 households. Videos show that nearly the entire stretch has been enclosed with screens around 10 feet high, leaving residents with limited entry and exit points.

Local residents said they were not properly informed about the barriers beforehand. Some questioned why the government was choosing to hide their homes from view instead of addressing the problems they have been living with for years. Few are asking that if the government does not want people to live in slums, it should provide them with proper alternative housing rather than simply putting up screens around them.

Unfortunately, many locals say this is not entirely new. Coolie Camp was earlier covered with large green sheets during the 2023 G20 Summit as well. If the same area is being covered again for another major international event like BRICS, it raises an uncomfortable question: what has actually changed in the last three years?

The whole controversy has also taken a political turn. The Aam Aadmi Party accused the Centre of trying to “hide” Delhi’s slums ahead of the BRICS Summit. Congress also criticised the use of curtains and temporary barricades around low-income houses.

A global summit may last for a few days, but the people living behind these curtains will continue to face the same problems after the foreign dignitaries leave. The government may be able to hide a slum from a passing convoy, but it cannot hide the underlying issue of poverty, inconvenient housing and poor civic infrastructure.

The real test of governance, therefore, is not how effectively poverty can be kept out of sight during an international event. It is whether the government can improve the lives of the people who live there long after the event is over.

Covering the truth may change the view. It does not change the reality.