Housing the Republic

Housing the Republic is the unparalleled biography of India's Parliament House, narrating its lived history as shaped by the founding fathers and mothers of the nation and others who have walked its corridors.

From tracing its origin in 1919, when its designs were first approved, to the making of the new Parliament House in 2023, Sobhana K. Nair chronicles the spirit of a nation perpetually in flux.

As a witness and participant, the Parliament has seen many a momentous event in India's journey as a democracy – from the hour of its christening as a republic to surviving a gruesome terror attack. Sobhana recounts several heated parliamentary debates that went on to define India's past, present and imminent futures, through the nine decades of its pre- and post-Independence political life.

Alongside the story of India's parliamentary life we get glimpses into the making of modern Delhi – the bustling capital city of the world's largest democracy. Blending biography, history and contemporary politics, Housing the Republic is a stellar portrait of a country found between horizons.