The Centre’s move to take over the Delhi Gymkhana Club has set off a debate among eminent citizens on whether the institution’s history and legacy should be preserved or if it is time to let go of an “elitist” club culture seen as a vestige of colonialism.
Members of the club on Sunday launched a signature campaign authorising the filing of a petition challenging the Centre’s order directing the club to vacate its premises in Lutyens’ Delhi by June 5.
“Several members of the club have signed the plea, and more are expected to sign it by tonight. The club has been an important part of our lives for decades, and the order has come as a shock to many of us,” Brigadier Harinder Pal Bedi (retd), a long-time member, said.
One of the first to speak up against the Centre’s notice to the colonial-era club was former Puducherry lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi. “This is unfortunate. It is truly tragic. (Hope the proposal is reconsidered) @arunjaitley got a new pool constructed during his lifetime. Some of the finest tennis matches have been played here. So much history, so many memories, and generations of sporting excellence are associated with this place,” she posted on X.
“The Delhi Gymkhana Club is not just a property — it is part of our institutional and sporting heritage. Change may be necessary, but history and legacy deserve thoughtful preservation. We can plan to add something new there too…,” she said.
Bedi was countered by senior journalist Prabhu Chawla, who said a club built on subsidised land could not be restrictive in favour of bureaucrats.
Since 1913, when the club was established, it has had a membership quota of 40 per cent for civil servants, an equal share for the defence services and 20 per cent for “others”. Adult children of members get a preference in the grant of membership. The wait list for membership reportedly ranges from 25 to 40 years and costs around ₹19 lakh. Senior government employees, however, pay a quarter of the amount.
In 2020, the National Company Law Tribunal had said that the club still “reeks of an imperial mindset”.
“…Clubs provided them (bureaucrats) facilities for sports & reasonable meals. That also insulated them from dependence on the moneyed class, which seeks their goodwill,” former diplomat K.C. Singh weighed in.
“Is there any other parallel in any other part of the democratic world in which such luxurious facilities are provided to the civil servants... When babus are pushing for reforms and selling of public assets, let these clubs be put up for sale as well,” Chawla replied.
The notice to Gymkhana comes at a time when the Centre is trying to evict the Delhi Race Club. They flank the Prime Minister’s residence.
The discomfort of elected governments in India against colonial bastions isn’t new. In 1969, Bengal sports minister Ram Chatterjee of the Marxist Forward Bloc led a group of Santhals into the pool of the Calcutta Swimming Club to end what he saw as discrimination against non-Europeans by the club.
Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad tried and failed in the 1990s to evict the 102-acre Patna Golf Club.
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK won a partial victory in its half-century-old battle against the Madras Race Club. It passed a law against betting on horse racing in 1974, which was struck down by the courts. In 2024, the DMK government cancelled the lease of the nearly 160-acre club and took control of most of its land to create an eco park.
Both Delhi’s Race Club and Gymkhana employ hundreds of people.
Gymkhana Employee Welfare Association president Nandan Singh Negi told reporters: “All the staff are in mourning. What will happen to our families and us? How could the government take a decision that affects around 600 employees and their families so suddenly?”
Author and an authority on Delhi’s history, Swapna Liddle, pointed out that one of the events held at Gymkhana on August 2, 1947, was a “Farewell to Old Comrades Reception in honour of the Officers of the Armed Forces of the Dominion of Pakistan” that was hosted by the “officers of the Armed Forces of the Dominion of India”.
“Institutions should evolve… not ossify. One of the things they could have done was to think about ways in which the institution could change,” she told PTI.
Shiv Sena leader Abhishek Verma posted on X: “For decades, such spaces functioned like private republics of inherited privilege, where surnames mattered more than merit, access was treated like ancestry, and public land became the comfort zone of a self-appointed elite.”
He said the “elitist club culture” slowly became a museum of “nepotism, colonial hangover and social gatekeeping”.
“Well done, Central Government. Some clubs needed reform. Some needed eviction. This one clearly needed both,” he added.
Congress leader and former MP Udit Raj said: “PM Modi, the King’s wish is to remove the Gymkhana Club. How dare it exist near him?”
Gymkhana’s architect, Robert T. Russell, also designed The Connaught Place and the Commanders-in-Chief’s residence, later known as Teen Murti House.
The club’s website says: “Russell was keen that the design of the new structure should complement the bungalows that were coming up right across the road. His drawing of the main building, the residential areas, and even the servant quarters reflects the spartan yet majestic building set amidst green lawns.”