Last week, the Land and Development Office (L&DO) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs asked the Delhi Gymkhana Club to hand over the premises at 2, Safdarjung Road, by June 5, 2026. The ministry has asked for the property, located in the heart of Lutyens Delhi, for defence needs and other vital public infrastructure projects.
Notably, the club is located close to the PM residence and is flanked by most sensitive government establishments.
The decision by the government to take back the land from Gymkhana Club has caused a lot of heartburn among the people one would have expected to experience it, the ‘elites’ of India who frequent the club. It was a place where British officers used to hang out and socialise pre-independence and these Indian elites hang out post-independence. But, now their exclusive hangout place, where they could feel superior to the hoi polloi outside may be gone soon, or be relocated at the very least.
The club, where membership waiting period is dozens of years and costs several lakhs for regular citizens, has been a prominent feature of Lutyens Delhi. It boasts of several senior bureaucrats, politicians, and other elites of Lutyens Delhi as its members. Interestingly, the club with such high and mighty as its members was paying peanuts as rent to the government for 28 Acres of prime land in the heart of Delhi.
The brouhaha over the decision by the ministry has varied from bizarre to comical to entitled outrage. Its defenders have said that the Colonial-era club is part of India’s cultural heritage, institutional heritage, and even India’s sporting heritage. Former RAW Chief AS Dulat even compared the club to a Temple. A little control please.
The decision by the government to take back the land from the club has even been called ‘truly tragic’. While it maybe tragic to the handful of people with access to the facilities of the club, thinking of it as a tragedy for India or Indians is laughable. There are several tragedies happening in the world every day, tragic events unfolding all around us every day, day after day, a club being asked to return the land they were using for practically free of cost for over a century is not tragic.
However, since the club has decided to approach the High Court against the government’s order, it is unlikely that the land will be returned by June 5 deadline. A long legal battle seems on the cards as the Delhi elites look to hold on to their getaway in the heart of Delhi.
