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One of India’s most exclusive private clubs is facing eviction. What’s behind the fight that has upset Delhi’s elite? | India
Narendra Modi’s government has ordered one of India’s most exclusive private clubs, the Delhi Gymkhana Club, to vacate its sprawling premises – the latest move against institutions seen as symbols of Delhi’s old world establishment.
The club has long been synonymous with India’s upper echelons, although before Independence in 1947 it was largely a preserve of the British colonial elite, admitting only a select few Indians.
Here’s everything to know about the club and why the government’s plan has sent shockwaves through the privileged membership base:
What is the Delhi Gymkhana Club and what is the row about?
The Delhi Gymkhana Club is one of the country’s oldest institutions: part colonial relic, part social club, part establishment power centre. Now it is suddenly under threat.
The Indian government has ordered the club to vacate the 11 hectares (27 acres) it occupies in the heart of New Delhi, saying the land is needed for defence-related infrastructure and other strategic purposes. The notice initially gave the club just two weeks to leave.
Lawyers rushed to the Delhi high court on Tuesday seeking to halt the eviction. The court declined to intervene. But India’s solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, assured the court that any action would take place strictly “in accordance with law”, easing fears of an immediate shutdown and buying the club some time.
What is the history of the club?
Founded in 1913 as the Imperial Delhi Gymkhana Club on a peppercorn rent, it began life as an exclusive preserve for British administrators and military officers. Only a select group of Indians were admitted, largely drawn from princely rulers, senior civil service officers, judges, lawyers and wealthy industrialists considered socially acceptable to the Raj.
Today, it remains a world of senior civil servants, military officers, old Delhi families and business people. Membership is famously hard to secure, with waiting lists that often stretch 20 to 30 years.
Only about 20% of membership places are reserved for those outside government service, and about 100 memberships open up each year.
The porticoed colonial-style clubhouse and its grounds feel worlds away from Delhi’s chaotic traffic and heat. Members have access to tennis and squash courts, bars, dining rooms, a library, rooms for cards and billiards, and 43 guest cottages and visitor rooms.
How worried are members for the club’s future?
Among Delhi’s club-going circles, an imagined exchange between the fictional Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, who were created by the British author P.G. Wodehouse, is circulating on WhatsApp. In the conversation, a distraught Bertie laments the government’s decision to reclaim the Gymkhana for “governance infrastructure”.
“They’re taking twenty-seven acres of pure, unadulterated bliss and turning it into bureaucracy, Jeeves,” Bertie groans, mourning the possible loss of tennis courts, billiards rooms and, most tragically, the club bar.
Jeeves remains unruffled. “Strategic necessity often demands robust alterations, sir.”
Is the the club just a watering hole for the rich and powerful?
Alongside the well-connected are retired civil servants and military officers. Historically, the club was dominated by bureaucrats and armed forces personnel, partly as a perk for public servants with lower salaries than the private sector.
For many members, the club is part social life, part second home. For some elderly members, it also serves as a kind of meals-on-wheels service: chauffeurs collect lunch and dinner from the club to eat at home. Some people joke it is a retirement village for the establishment.
“My parents are saying it’s like being evicted from their home,” said one member. “They’ve been going there at least once a week for 40 years. All our family gatherings happen at the Gymkhana. I know I have had a life of privilege, but I will miss it if it goes.”
Veteran commentator Vir Sanghvi, writing for The Print, a digital news platform, said that on the rare occasions he has visited the Gymkhana, “it has been packed out with retired army officers, superannuated bureaucrats and people whose families once had money but can’t now afford to pay the extortionate prices at five-star hotel bars.”
Why doesn’t the Modi government seem keen on preserving the club?
Since coming to power in 2014, Modi’s government has shown little affection for British-era institutions associated with privilege and what the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) often calls the “Lutyens’ elite”, shorthand for the old political, bureaucratic and social establishment accused of dominating India for decades.
The counter-argument is that the old establishment has moved on. Even the Gymkhana counts many government supporters among its members.
Is the club likely to disappear?
Probably not quickly.
The Gymkhana has spent years battling the government. Government-appointed administrators currently oversee its activities following allegations of governance failures and financial irregularities.
While the government is expected to press ahead with its eviction plans, club members will continue their court fight. Given India’s overburdened legal system, members may yet have years of gin and tonics left before the matter is settled.
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Backlash against ‘short-termist’ UK plans to weaken EV sales targets | Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars
The UK government’s plans to further weaken electric car targets have provoked a furious backlash from the charging industry and the electric car brand Polestar, which would lose out from the changes.
The Labour government is expected to dilute rules known as the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Government sources have said it will reduce a target for pure electric cars from 80% of all sales by 2030 to 50%.
The Labour government had already weakened the mandate last year by introducing loopholes – known as “flexibilities” – that allow the sale of more plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which combine an engine with a small battery.
The slower shift to electric cars would be a huge blow in particular to the charging industry, which is investing on the basis of future demand.
Greg Jackson, the chief executive of Octopus Energy, said the government had chosen “short-termist incumbent lobbying instead of the long-term future of industry”. As well as being the UK’s largest retail energy provider, Octopus is also a large player in electric vehicle leasing and charging.
“The fossil fuel market is shrinking globally and our best hope is to speed up development of electric vehicles, not go the other way,” Jackson said. “This hesitation undermines the credibility of government commitments which were supposed to give certainty to investors.”
Vicky Read, the chief executive of the industry lobby group ChargeUK, said weakening the target was an “astonishing” proposal which could cost tens of thousands of jobs in the longer term.
“The charging sector has ploughed billions into putting chargers in the ground on the basis of this policy, ahead of profitability,” Read said. “This government said it would not flip-flop like the previous did. To move the goalposts again would be exactly that – an act of self-harm denying the country a forward facing, economically prosperous industry leaving us behind the rest of the world.”
The proposal would probably mean millions more cars with petrol engines on British roads and significantly higher carbon emissions. Plug-in hybrids produce about 135g of carbon dioxide per kilometre driven on average, compared with about 166g from petrol cars, according to T&E, a thinktank monitoring transport and environmental issues. Electric cars produce zero carbon directly and have much lower associated emissions over their lifetime.
The government’s decision followed heavy lobbying by car manufacturers as well as the Unite union, which represents many workers in British automotive factories. Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, described the proposed changes as “a huge victory” and said it would “protect the jobs of UK automotive workers”.
However, Anna Krajinska, the UK director at T&E, argued that allowing more plug-in hybrid sales would ultimately harm the UK industry by leaving the door open to Chinese manufacturers. China’s Chery, owner of brands including Omoda and Jaecoo, and BYD, the world’s biggest electric carmaker, have sold about 30,000 cars each in the UK this year, many of them PHEVs.
“Slowing down targets and increasing hybrid sales will destroy the UK’s automotive sector,” Krajinska said. “Only a rapid transition to battery electrics can secure the future of UK manufacturing. For that to happen targets have to remain unchanged and [the business secretary] Peter Kyle needs to deliver a coherent and robust industrial policy to transition the sector and jobs.”
A weaker ZEV mandate would also represent a blow to manufacturers focusing on electric cars. Matt Galvin, the UK managing director of the Chinese-owned electric brand Polestar, said: “Weakening these targets allows car manufacturers to decelerate development of EVs at a time when they should be doing exactly the opposite and accelerating their investment and product offering.”
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