5 min readMay 31, 2026 08:43 PM IST
First published on: May 31, 2026 at 06:26 AM IST
What intrigued me about the government’s decision to sound the death knell of the Delhi Gymkhana Club was the timing. Why now? Could it be to distract attention from the economic problems caused by the war on Iran? In these times of social media, it is stories that everyone has an opinion about that take precedence over grim news like the price of fuel rising and foreign investors fleeing our shores. Whatever the reason, I am delighted that the club was given marching orders.
Not because I think it is a good idea to demolish this charming relic of our colonial past but because the decision could start a movement to end the privileges of our politicians and high officials. It is a movement that is much needed. Among the heated debates that happened last week on television and social media the one thing everyone agreed on was that this private club was a symbol of the entitlement and privilege that makes the word ‘lootyens’ an insult. Somehow nobody has noticed yet that the most entitled and privileged private club in Lutyens’ Delhi is not the Gymkhana but the Lok Sabha. Just over 30% of its members come from political families which means one in three of our elected representatives is a nepo baby. Nepotism is less evident in the Rajya Sabha but 20% of its members also come from political families.
So, if we object to people inheriting their membership at the Gymkhana Club, then we must first acknowledge that this is not half as disquieting as politicians inheriting parliamentary constituencies. A desire for public service is not something that comes down in the genes so every time some nepo baby inherits a constituency, it is denied to a person with a genuine desire for public service. Yet we never protest when our political parties hand out tickets at election time to candidates from political families. The sad truth is that other than the communists, all our opposition parties are today family businesses. Nepo babies can be spotted in the BJP as well, but the party itself has not yet become some political heirloom.
In the debates we heard last week about the cancellation of the lease of the Gymkhana Club’s 27 acres, those who said this was a good thing argued that public land needs to be better used. True. And this is why this columnist has argued for many years that it is time to throw politicians and bureaucrats out of their colonial bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. This is public land that can be much better used for creating affordable rental housing for the millions of people in Delhi who live in shamefully squalid shanties. An estimated 30-50 lakh Delhi citizens live in horrible conditions in shanty towns that sometimes exist on the edge of garbage dumps in which children compete with stray animals in their search for food. Is it acceptable that the men responsible for building low-cost housing themselves live like princes?
Most democratic countries do not ask taxpayers to pay for housing public servants. But since we have spoiled ours so badly for so many decades, I would like to offer a humble suggestion. Since ‘national security’ was given as a reason to get rid of the Gymkhana Club, would it not be a good idea to move the Prime Minister into a permanent residence like Teen Murti House? Or instead of wasting money on a new residence for the Prime Minister, why not move him into Hyderabad House or one of those other fine palaces that exist around India Gate?
Another question we need to start asking is why Rashtrapati Bhawan needs to sit in an estate that is slightly more than 300 acres? Surely a 20-acre garden would suffice for the President of India, and the rest of that public land could be used to house ministers and high officials? This would reduce what we spend on security, and we might save some money on their travel since they would then be close enough to their offices to walk. There are countries in the ‘viksit’ western world where prime ministers, presidents and princes all use public transport. Our politicians and officials believe that there is a constant threat to their lives so that cannot happen, but a healthy walk accompanied by two security men would do wonders for their health.
If the Gymkhana Club refuses to pay market rent, then it must go. But this should be the first step in a bigger readjustment of Lutyens Delhi. Or it will be clear that the real reason why this club has been targeted is because it is considered the last bastion of that ‘English-speaking ruling class’ that the new rulers of India so despise. At this point I must clarify that although I am a proud member of that old ruling class (AKA Khan Market gang), I am in fact not a member of the Gymkhana Club.
Like a lot of other people, I have been trying to change my dependent member card to a full membership for more than thirty years. I also need to clarify that in the past thirty years I have been to the Gymkhana Club no more than five or six times. Usually for someone else’s party or for someone’s wedding. It is here that the indigent ‘elite’ come because they cannot afford five-star hotels.
