GYMKHANA CLUB AND THE POWER OF MYTHS.

Delhi's chatterati, who always need something more than just fried peanuts with their gin and tonic, are abuzz these days with the latest canapes: the Modi government's hostile take- over of Gymkhana Club. It's not a done deal yet, but rest assured that our higher judiciary, with judgments like Ram Mandir, SIR, Umar Khalid, Aravallis, Hindenberg/SEBI, Pegasus, etc. under its belt, will finally approve non-passive euthanasia for  this last watering hole for the drones of South Delhi.

No one, of course, believes the reason cited by the govt. itself for the action, viz, that the 27 acres is needed for security/defence purposes: this is the default position of the govt. for all decisions which push the boundaries of legality and/ or good sense. Hence, there is much feverish speculation about the real motives for this surgical strike: the Club's administrative and financial mess, non-payment of dues to the government, turning the entire area into a semi-militarized zone so that a Bangladesh, Nepal or January 6th type of incident never happens, fear of the Cockroach Janata Party, a real estate operation which will ultimately benefit the Melodi loving leader's cronies. But all this assumes that this govt. acts rationally, which past decisions do not bear out. I have, therefore, a different take which matches the leopard's spots, as it were.

The BJP is a party which is founded on, and which survives on, myths- past, present and future. It originates from the myths of ancient India-our epics, Akhand Bharat, the existence of plastic surgery, aeroplanes, nuclear missiles thousands of years ago, etc. In the present it rules on the strength of other myths- Vishwaguru, fastest growing economy in the world, leader of the Global South, wolf warrior diplomacy, "ghar me ghus ke maarenge", developed country by 2047, Net Zero emissions by 2075, and so on. None of these myths are based on facts or have a rational basis, but constant reiteration has converted them into legal fiction and have kept the BJP in power for more than a decade.

Gymkhana Club is a victim of two such myths-  Lutyen's Delhi/ Khan Market gang (which work actively against the BJP), and Colonial Legacy (which diminishes our own glorious culture). Both are fake, or at least selectively applied to suit the government's narrative.

The BJP believes that the privileged residents of Lutyen's Delhi are inimical to the party and conspire against it, and that Gymkhana Club is its hub. Wrong. There is no such thing as Lutyen's Delhi and the Khan Market gang became the Khanna Market gang in 2014. The 2800 hectares known as Lutyen's Delhi is occupied by politicians, mostly of saffron hue, who subsist on subsidies many times that enjoyed by the members of Gymkhana: serving bureaucrats who cannot even take a toilet break without written approval from their political masters; and industrialists fully house-trained by the ED, CBI and Income Tax. They ARE the BJP!

The retired bureaucrats and defense forces officers who haunt the Gymkhana bar also did a "ghar wapsi" years ago. I am a member of various groups of retired officers, and I can confidently state that the vast majority of my brethren- 75-80%- support the BJP ideology, 10-15% may not but will not open their mouths for fear of jeopardizing their pensions. the rest are so soaked in gin-and-tonic they can't press their own doorbell, let alone an EVM button. Those who possess the courage and the conviction to criticise the government are few and far between, and getting fewer with each successive election.

Lutyen's Delhi (and the Gymkhana) are, therefore  de facto BJP territory, as both Sanjay Jha and Vir Sanghvi have also pointed out, and the BJP knows it. So why take over the Club? Pause that question for the nonce, dear reader, we shall come to it later.

The "Colonial mind-set" myth is used as an alibi for this govt's failures, to distract attention away from them, and to find a convenient whipping boy to rally the troops, or voters. Gymkhana is the whipping boy this time, to burnish the BJP's non-existent credentials as the champion of the poor, and to divert the voters' attention away from the goodies being gifted daily to the crony oligarchs. How can this bunch of effete elites and their colonial era club ( so goes the specious argument built on a false myth) be allowed to grab valuable govt. land and live a subsidised life when 800 million have to be fed on doles? Such a narrative, refined by Mr Amit Malvia, contains all the ingredients of the Colonial myth- alibi, distraction and scapegoat. That it is patently false (like the Khan Market gang myth) is beside the point- myths appeal to us precisely because they provide an escape from reality.

Gymkhana Club is a victim of these two myths. But it is just the beginning: this narrative, perhaps a counter to the Cockroach movement, will be rolled out across the country- the Maharashtra govt. has already served notices to 16 prominent clubs in Mumbai. For what an authoritarian or fascist govt. needs at all times is an "enemy" to rally the nation behind it. Voltaire had said "If  God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him". Replace "God" with "Enemy" and you have the reason why colonial era Clubs are the new enemy, and why 6000 members of Gymkhana will now have to find another watering hole in this urban jungle. Never underestimate the power of myth making.

Am I sad ? I don't really know. I was not a member of Gymkhana- my application was rejected after a waiting period of ten years without assigning any reason. But I shall miss its nonpareil mutton cutlets- they don't make them like that anywhere in India. They probably WERE a colonial hand -down, but then not all legacies are bad, are they?