The Indian club that outlasted the British may not survive Modi

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‘Modi’s Delhi’

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The Indian government is pushing to evict the Delhi Gymkhana Club , one of the country’s most storied and exclusive colonial-era social clubs, touching off a fierce fight among the city’s elite — even as it evokes a collective shrug among its young and newly wealthy.India’s Housing Ministry canceled the club’s lease this month and ordered it to hand over the 27-acre site in the heart of the capital by June 5. The government says the land — situated next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s residence — is located in a “sensitive and strategic area” that it needs to reclaim for public use.The cancellation puts a target on a club founded by the British in 1913 for army officers and civil servants, and which has since become Delhi’s premier watering hole for the city’s powerful bureaucrats. Access to its manicured grounds is tightly controlled: Only roughly 100 spots open each year and the wait list said to run for more than three decades, with a quarter set aside for the children of existing members. Applicants reportedly pay an entry fee of up to 2.2 million rupees ($23,125).The order lands at a moment when clubs like the Gymkhana are already losing their grip. India’s new wealthy class have little patience for a decades-long wait list to join a club founded by retired generals and imperial administrators. Their preferred venue: A new wave of luxury-tower clubhouses and members-only lounges offering scenic views, swanky bars and parties geared toward young professionals.They are luring the likes of Khyat Mahajan, a 32-year-old executive at the Indian e-commerce platform Cashify . Four years ago he joined The Quorum club in Gurugram — a satellite city to Delhi known for its high-rises and legions of tech workers — which charges a more accessible 200,000-rupee entry fee and has no wait list.“It’s a business sort of club, not a very age-old club like Gymkhana,” Mahajan said. He’s particularly fond of the club’s lounges, refuges to share a coffee or take a client meeting. “The purpose of the club is simple: to create a community of like-minded people.”The Quorum also has an outpost in Mumbai, where it competes for members with an oceanfront Soho House. Bengaluru is home to the Cosmopolitan Club, while hotel chains like the Oberoi, the Hyatt and ITC lure members with access to pools and other amenities. India’s private members’ club market is growing at nearly 18% annually, according to a report by wealth management firm Dezerv.“You get to know everyone. You start hanging out, pick your group,” said Abhinav Magow, a 24-year-old resident of the The Camellias, a luxury Gurugram residential complex with an in-house club. He doesn’t know the entry fee — he said his family covered it — but he’s a fan of the club’s coffee shop. “There’s a huge gym. It’s really fancy.”Delhi’s young and affluent might not be bothered to see the Gymkhana go. But among the city’s old guard, the threat has touched off a ferocious political fight.Supporters of the Gymkhana’s removal argue that prime public land — leased to the club for a token rent — should not be the preserve of a privileged few. “Taxpayers are no longer willing to subsidise to the tune of thousands of crores, your stale cutlets and evening swims,” author Anand Ranganathan posted on X. A crore is 10 million rupees.Critics of the move call it a case of state overreach against an institution the government dislikes. Prominent members include Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party . In 2020, the government installed a new board of directors more closely aligned with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party , a move seen as bringing the club closer to heel.Since coming to power in 2014, Modi’s government has shown little affection for British-era institutions associated with a bygone elite, said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a journalist who wrote a biography of the prime minister.“I see the Gymkhana being targeted as a part of a larger Modi project to leave his signature on Delhi,” Mukhopadhyay said. “It will be Modi’s Delhi.”If the government prevails in ousting the club, other colonial-era institutions occupying public land — like Bombay Gymkhana — could face a similar fate, said Maidul Islam, a political analyst at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Kolkata.In the meantime, some Gymkhana members and staff are fighting the eviction in court, arguing there was no prior notice and the government has given vague reasons for reclaiming the land. On May 26, the Delhi High Court declined to back the club’s request to halt its removal. The next hearing is set for July. For now, the June 5 deadline stands.