As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is turning away from anything related to India’s colonial past, the nation’s former central seat of government will be transformed to reflect 5,000 years of history.
When it opened in 1931, the Central Secretariat on Raisina Hill above Delhi – designed by architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker – was meant to reflect the best of both the British and the Indian architecture. While the South Block housed the prime minister’s office and the defence and foreign ministries, the North Block was home to the home and finance ministries. Together, they were a symbol of British colonialism, a way of showing that the so-called Raj-era would never end.
However, only 17 years after the completion of the Central Secretariat, India gained its independence. The building became the seat of government of a sovereign state, yet otherwise, little changed. Despite the size of the Central Secretariat – said to house no less than 4,000 rooms – extra rooms had to be created over the years in order to make room for a growing, modernising government.
“New rooms used to be carved out of the wide corridors. You’d suddenly find a bathroom being made under a staircase. It was a constant struggle to create space. The façade had an incredible grandeur, of course, but it wasn’t so special inside North Block. People overhype the aura. Staff will be much better off in functioning offices than in some nostalgic haze”, Neelam Deo, a former government employee, told The Times.
A few years ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided it was time to separate the nation’s colonial history from its current politics. Therefore, he started Delhi’s Central Vista Redevelopment Project, costing some $3 billion. A new parliament already opened its doors in 2023, and the different ministries are moving to the new, glass-and-steel buildings of the Kartavya Bhavan at the time of writing.
A new chapter in India’s infrastructure story unfolds at the heart of Delhi! 🏛️ #KartavyaBhavan-3 opens today on #KartavyaPath — part of the visionary Central Vista project to modernize governance with state-of-the-art Secretariat buildings.
— Tweetonomer (@Twtnomer1) August 6, 2025
🇮🇳 #NewIndia #InfraDevelopment pic.twitter.com/1gUCGLM3fU
World’s biggest museum
With the Central Secretariat being cleared little by little, the question of its future use remains. In 2023, Modi first put forward the idea to transform the building into a museum, and those plans now seem to be confirmed. Part of the colonial remnant will become the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, which means as much as “everlasting India” in Sanskrit.
The new museum is set to be spread out over 950 rooms, which should house some 25,000 to 30,000 artefacts, showcasing 5,000 years of Indian cultural heritage. It will replace the existing and nearby National Museum in Delhi. While no timeframe has been given for the project, with the ministries already moving into their new offices, work on what could become the world’s biggest museum could start soon.
