From Patna to Bengaluru: Experts and voters regret that “built heritage” is not a voting issue

Aman Lal, a 20-year-old college student, believes that the Lok Sabha election billboard in Patna, which has the tagline “Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi,” is a “cruel joke” for the Bihar city, which has recently seen the destruction of countless historic structures.

 

On the verge of graduating from the storied Patna College, Lal, a first-time voter, bemoans the fact that, despite the “colossal loss” of constructed heritage in his city, politicians and the general public “do not poll on it.”

Though the Congress has pledged to give the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) “more funds” and human resources if it wins power, the ruling BJP has stated in its manifesto for the 2024 elections that it will “develop religious and tourist sites inspired by the Kashi Vishwanath corridor model” and preserve culturally significant monuments.

Despite these campaign pledges, a lot of people are angry that “built heritage” isn’t being discussed as a poll issue from Delhi to Patna and Bengaluru to Mumbai.

“under Patna, our ‘Virasat’ is being destroyed under the name of ‘Vikas’. Additionally, although politicians and candidates in Bihar discuss a variety of topics, heritage is not one of them. The nearly 90-year-old Women’s Hospital of the illustrious PMCH (Patna Medical College and Hospital) being battered during election season, but is any political party concerned? Has any political candidate or politician brought up the subject of the ongoing removal of historical markers? Lal enquired.

Around the time the calendar for the 2024 general elections in New Delhi was published in March, the renowned Women’s Hospital, which had one of the best architectural designs in Europe, had its whole frontal structure demolished.

The Patna Collectorate was the most prominent of the ancient buildings demolished in Patna in recent years. It was demolished in 2022 to make room for a new collectorate complex, which infuriated many historians, academics, and architects.

Thus, for Patna, the tagline ‘Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi’ seems like a cruel joke. Only ‘Vikas’ is being discussed here, Lal lamented, adding that polling will begin on April 19, the day following World Heritage Day, but that there is no discussion of the problem in the media or in political discourse.

Despite Karnataka’s linguistic and cultural differences from Bihar, many of its residents share the same anguish down south.

Since 2014, a village-to-village study has uncovered around 3,100 cultural sites with noteworthy archeological discoveries.
Only for representational reasons is this image used.
A nation that disregards its history also forfeits its future: Yashaswini Sharma, a conservation architect based in Bengaluru and a close friend of Prime Minister Modi, said that although “my city has lost many landmarks over the years,” constructed heritage is “not part of poll talks and election rallies.”

She mentions the historically significant Devaraja Market, established in the 1880s by the Mysore royal family, the Lansdowne Building in Mysuru, which was built in the 1890s, and the long-threatened “Asiatic Building,” also known as Janatha Bazaar in the center of Bengaluru. A legal struggle is being waged to preserve these landmark buildings.

“Election rallies see huge gatherings of masses, and politicians and leaders can use this opportunity to help build more awareness about our cultural and natural heritage and generate a greater sense of pride for our built heritage, but they really, so far, have missed this opportunity,” Sharma stated to PTI.

Many people mistakenly believe that heritage is “contrary to development” and that its preservation is a “selective subject,” according to the author of “Bangalore: The Early City.”

She said that heritage and modernism can “coexist” and that older structures are “smart and resilient,” capable of being “reused and redeveloped to generate revenue.”

“Our mindset has to shift. We talk about the value of religious legacy, but we also need to mainstream civic tradition, which is unrelated to any one faith. And in order to do that, the media will also need to be heavily involved,” the conservation architect said, emphasizing that historic structures shouldn’t be reduced to nothing more than a “beautiful background” in TV programs on politics.

Not unlike food, water, and employment, historic building demolition results in a “loss of urban memory and cultural identity,” and citizens and policymakers should “also be concerned about the fate of built heritage,” the speaker stated.

history doesn’t become an election issue, according to Meera Iyer, convener of the INTACH Bangalore Chapter and author of “Discovering Bengaluru: History. Neighbourhoods. Walks,” since the majority of the population “does not care about heritage, really, especially, built heritage.”

However, she said, they “care about their religious heritage,” which makes them relevant in discussions and arguments in the media.

Iyer said, “There is little understanding or appreciation of our diverse pasts.” She went on to say that she would be thrilled to see a politician in the future pledge, while running for office, to repair a public cultural monument.

Even though heritage isn’t a political issue, she said that “some politicians” in the nation have made “some things for heritage.”

The vociferous critic of old Delhi’s “decaying heritage” and the necessity for its restoration and preservation, former Union minister Vijay Goel, has said that “heritage should become a poll issue.”

He said that heritage has been “reduced to just articles and stories” or has become “a thing of status or fashion” in modern times.

Goel has experience maintaining historic structures, and his restoration of Dharampura Haveli is now regarded as a model for urban conservation.

Many of the centuries-old havelis in old Delhi are either falling apart or being demolished by their owners, and I recently wrote to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to bring attention to this issue. People need to be concerned about heritage and it must be a significant problem,” he said.

Only for representational reasons is this image used.
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