Delhi’s Hidden Slums During BRICS: Global Image or Failure of Governance?

As India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, the capital has received a massive makeover. Roads have been cleaned, roundabouts decorated, buildings illuminated and 154 screens installed at various locations as part of preparations. But the most controversial part of this makeover is the appearance of screens around settlements such as Coolie Camp in Vasant Vihar, which residents say are intended to hide the settlement from view of visiting dignitaries. The official purpose of these particular screens has not been clearly established, so claims that they were specifically ordered to “hide slums” should be treated cautiously.

Yet the controversy raises an uncomfortable question for the Modi government: if India wants to showcase itself as a rising global power, why does the city need to hide some of its poorest residents when international leaders arrive? The problem is not that Delhi should look clean and organised for a major summit. Security and urban beautification are legitimate requirements. The problem begins when temporary visual management appears to replace permanent solutions to poverty, housing shortages and inadequate urban infrastructure. A government should ideally be able to showcase both India's economic ambitions and the reality of its citizens—not create a carefully filtered version of the city for foreign visitors.

There is also a troubling historical parallel. Similar screens and barriers were reported around Delhi settlements during the 2023 G20 Summit, while Reuters documented demolitions of some slum settlements in the run-up to that event. The repetition makes the criticism politically powerful: has the government learned how to hide poverty faster than it has learned how to eliminate it? For residents who live behind these screens, the issue is not merely about appearance. It is about whether they are being treated as citizens whose living conditions deserve investment—or as something that should disappear whenever India receives global attention.

The BRICS Summit itself is an important diplomatic opportunity, and India deserves recognition for hosting leaders from major emerging economies. But global leadership cannot be measured only by how impressive the roads look when foreign leaders pass through them. It should also be measured by how the poorest citizens experience the same city. If India wants to project the image of a powerful and modern nation, hiding uncomfortable realities may create a polished photograph—but it does not solve the underlying problem. Is this truly a “Viksit Bharat” moment, or are we simply putting a screen in front of the India we don't want the world to see?