'This was our home': Thousands left with nowhere to go as New Delhi razes slums ahead of G20

The bulldozers moved in on a quiet March night with little notice, in a New Delhi area that hugs the Yamuna River snaking through the centre of India's capital.

By the next morning, hundreds of people who are homeless no longer had a shelter to take refuge in at night.

"Police officers came in the night and dragged us out before demolishing the shelter," said Gajendar Singh, who works odd jobs for daily wages and had used the homeless shelter for five years.

"I ran in fear with whatever personal belongings I could gather fast," he told CBC News, opening his small backpack and showing the few essentials he now carries around with him at all times.

"This was our home," he said, a place with proper meals and tea served three times a day.

According to activists and residents, nine of New Delhi's homeless shelters, as well as several slum clusters housing thousands of families in the heart of the city, were razed as part of a beautification strategy ahead of the high-profile G20 leaders summit coming up on Saturday and Sunday.

Another resident, Pradeep Kumar, was on the verge of tears while staring at the rubble where the riverside shelter used to stand as he described the loss of the only caring community he had ever known.

"How would you feel if your home was destroyed? I have no one else in this world but I was able to stay here," Kumar said, gesturing to where the shelter was located. "Now that it is destroyed, where can I go?

"All I need is a place to sleep."

'Treated like a fly in milk'

World leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden and CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeau, will descend on India's capital for the two-day event, the most high-profile guest list India has ever hosted.

Ahead of the summit, the razing of the shelters and slums left activists feeling disheartened and questioning the methods of Delhi officials.

"Who demolishes a shelter home at midnight?" asked Sunil Kumar Aledia, a longtime Delhi-based social worker with the Centre for Holistic Development.

"You cannot demolish someone's home in the name of beautification," Aledia told CBC News, adding that the city's homeless population that he serves feels as though they "are not citizens of this country" ahead of the G20.

People who are homeless, Aledia said,"are treated like a fly in milk and thrown away. They have no value."

The Indian government has denied the charge, saying the settlements were built illegally and their removal was ongoing and not linked to the upcoming summit.

After a string of demolitions in the Delhi area this spring, a minister responsible for housing in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government told India's parliament in July that 93 hectares of government land had been reclaimed, adding that no houses were destroyed to make the city presentable for the G20 summit.

Billboards across the country

After India took over as host of the G20 in December of last year, a massive advertising campaign lurched into gear alongside beautification efforts, with billboards appearing across the country. More than 200 G20-linked meetings were held in cities all over India, often with great fanfare.

Indian officials have looked at the G20 "not as an event. They're looking at it as a sort of national celebration," said Indrani Bagchi, head of the Ananta Aspen Centre, a New Delhi-based think-tank.

"It's putting global concerns in the minds of Indians."

Bagchi said that it's important for the Modi government that the summit goes off without a hitch to show both a domestic and global audience "that we can do something on this scale."

WATCH | Slum demolishedahead of G20meeting in New Delhi:

New Delhi slum destroyed in May ahead of G20 summit

1 year ago

Duration 0:50

Temporary houses made of tin sheets in Janta Camp were demolished in May, ahead of September's geopolitical summit in India's capital.

The messaging from government officials has been consistent: that its G20 presidency confirms that India is now a major player and power broker on the world stage, as the fifth-largest economy and growing quickly.

India has used the platform to position itself as the leader of the global south, Bagchi said, highlighting issues important to developing countries and lobbying to extend G20 membership to the African Union.

Promoting national pride

The G20 publicity campaign is as much a domestic one as a global one, with officials taking the opportunity to promote national pride as the country hosts foreign dignitaries. One state-issued dinner invitation referredto the "president of Bharat" instead of "India," fuelling speculation the Modi government will move to get rid of the country's English name, a vestige of British rule.

Bharat, a Sanskrit term that can be traced back to ancient Hindu scriptures, is already one of the two official names of the country enshrined in the constitution. It is also a term the prime minister uses often in his speeches, preferring it to India.

Elsewhere, in preparation for the large-scale G20 summit, statues and fountains have been built and potted plants installed on New Delhi's streets.

Several screens have been set up and now hideshanty dwellings that are on the routes where delegates might pass to reach the city's newly built convention centre.

During the two-day event, dozens of people will also be standing outside Delhi's venues, mimicking the sounds of langur monkeys to keep the pesky animals that normally roam freely around the city away from high-profile guests.

Tens of thousands of police officers and security personnel will be stationed around the capital, with many having recently gone through training simulating responses to various high-risk scenarios, such as hostage-takings or building takeovers.

Glaring absences

But Modi's geopolitical ambitions tied to the summit may be tarnished by the deepening divides among the world's most powerful countries that make up the G20, with consensus unlikely over the Russia-Ukraine war.

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are skipping the event. It will be the first time Xi, or any president of China, will miss the G20, in what many see as a snub to India, given the border tensions and chilly relations between the neighbouring countries.

India's foreign minister, S. Jaishankar,said in an interview with local news agency ANI that the absences have "nothing to do with India."

Bagchi said Indian officials tried to persuade Xi to attend, but ultimately, China's absence at the table is not a surprise.

"In the past year, we've seen Chinese officials opposing all consensus," Bagchi told CBC in an interview, highlighting that none of the high-level ministerial G20 meetings so far this year have resulted in a joint communique, a key document every summit strives for.

And that could very well be the same outcome at the leaders' summit this weekend for the first time since the G20 began meeting in 1999.

The Indian side, Bagchi said, is "not unaware that China wants to snub India or to hold it down or keep it off balance."

But the geopolitical wrangling or perceived snubs between countries mean nothing for those who are left without a place to sleep as Delhi hosts the G20.

"These are the people who make a city," said Aledia, gesturing to a group of homeless men gathered around him under New Delhi's punishing midday sun.

"It is not possible to develop for G20 without them," he said. "They are back to zero, left with nothing."