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No minister lives in a govt bungalow after retirement. No private sector employee gets a lifelong pension. Most Babus accumulate more wealth and properties than ministers. Unless these elite gymkhanas conduct IB style honesty checks, such privilege looks deeply questionable.

The fact that a Vir Sanghvi & Rajdeep Sardesai are up in arms against a “club of veterans and bureaucrats” being displaced, or “just enjoying kebabs at subsidised rates” says everything. Lo and behold, anti-colonial anguish in 3000 words when an old power circle is inconvenienced.

@ShivAroor What makes you think your likes-dislikes are important for people to know? What makes you think you are so important. People must stop such narcissist behaviour.

Karnataka breakfast best in the country. You cannot change my mind.

@ashok_advocate Brilliantly articulated the heart of the issue.

The presumption that public outrage over the Delhi Gymkhana Club stems from a desperate desire for entry is a remarkably convenient, yet highly patronizing subversion of the issue. Citizens are not clamoring to access your lounges; they are questioning basic fiscal equity and sovereign rationality. How does an elite cohort rationalize the private, restricted enjoyment of 27.3 acres of prime Lutyens land on an archaic annual lease heavily subsidized by ordinary taxpayers? If legacy is the primary currency used to justify retaining a post-colonial social fiefdom, does a privileged ecosystem possess a hereditary right to exclude the state from its own land when it is required for national infrastructure? The invocation of Clause 4 of the lease deed is not born out of animosity toward high society, but out of absolute public purpose. Sprawling administrative setups in South Block can relocate for governance modernization, yet an elite social club claims immunity from structural re-entry. In a democratic republic, national defense infrastructure must always supersede subsidized, recreational exclusivity.

Today, I submitted a written request to Union Minister for Minority Affairs @KirenRijiju ji seeking the exercise of the Centre's supervisory powers to remove properties that have been illegally uploaded on the UMEED portal. The Waqf Board registered 404 acres of Munambam land on the portal without complying with the provisions of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) framework and the applicable provisions of the Waqf Act. Under the law, only the Mutawalli is authorised to upload Waqf property records to the UMEED portal. In this case, that authority rests with Farook College. Yet, without following due process, the Waqf Board unilaterally registered the property. These violations have been formally brought to the attention of the Government of India, and we expect appropriate action at the earliest. The people of Munambam deserve justice, and we will continue to pursue every legal and administrative avenue until it is delivered. #APAKADAMPolitics

12 years ago Peta held a rally in India asking Muslims to turn Vegan at Eid. Their activists were thrashed so badly they might have been lynched had cops not intervened. Peta never held a rally on Eid ever again. All the sermonising is reserved exclusively for Hindu festivals.

@IndiaToday Idiotic babus must understand that space connected to sport must produce world class sports icon. Did Delhi Gymkhana produce any? Why are they constantly saying it is deeply connected to sports.

A. S. Dulat, Bureaucrat and former Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing of India, weighs in on the debate over Delhi Gymkhana Club, questioning whether a historic institution built around sports, recreation and community should be treated like any other premium club. During his conversation with @sardesairajdeep, the former RAW chief defended the club’s role beyond social networking, calling it a space deeply connected to sport and public life. #ASDulat #DelhiGymkhana #NewsToday #IndiaTodaySocial

@thekiranbedi @ndtv Let go ma'am. That's enough. You can't hold on to everything in life, especially the ones that don't belong to you. Time to show grace has come

My First Lesson In Delhi Came On The Lawns Of Gymkhana: Kiran Bedi Writes ndtv.com/opinion/my-fir… @ndtv #DelhiGymKhanaClub

@Tushar15 But intellectually retarded arguments from all panelists

A very progressive debate on the issue. Nobody was ranting, nobody was blaming the elitism. If only we could have more conversations like this one.

@MrSandeepPhogat This is false and misleading. No one wins no one loses. Status quo is maintained. No immediate eviction. "Due process" is abused apparently

🚨High Court REFUSED Gymkhana Club appeal🔥 ✅Delhi High Court just said NO to stopping the government order. ❌Even famous lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi couldn’t save them! 💥The super-rich Delhi Gymkhana Club (113 years old, huge 27-acre plot in Lutyens Delhi) must vacate by June 5. Why? - It’s on public land. - Government needs it for defence and security. - Club owes ₹47 crore in rent. 🇮🇳No more special treatment for the powerful. Public land = public use. Are you Happy with High Court decision?

@rahulshard It was never meant to be that way brother. They are just playing a friendly hockey match between themselves with Milords umpiring it.

As expected judiciary comes to rescue of gymkhana club ... How can govt work if judiciary interferes in everything

@JaipurDialogues No. This was never meant to be evicted. I believe the elite ruling class is just playing hockey. Babus to politicians to the judiciary. All are hand in glove. This will only drag for years. New sensational issues will come and common people will forget this any way

So Gymkhana is Finally Going! No relief from the Court

@Tara_Deshpande Perpetual lease marred by impropriety doesn't make it legal. Today's generation will question this and get reversal of this senseless policy, else challenge this in courts, if Govt goes soft hereafter.

But they haven’t. It is a legal perpetual lease. They are not squatters. They have captured nothing.

@irfhabib Indira Gandhi's era is gone. She was not as popular as Modi internationally. The threat to Modi is real, whereas assassination of I.Gandhi was a self goal. In either case, pvt club has no moral and legal claim to public property. Hope this is clear.

Security argument is bogus. Indira Gandhi lived across the club yet no security concerns were ever raised. At least I am not aware of any.

@sardesairajdeep @virsanghvi Don't worry. Citizenry has woken and knows how to get babus and politicians to obey. We are not going to keep quiet. We will put them to shame, embarrass their children and force them to enjoy life without pinching our pockets. No power stands in front of ethics and propriety

Interesting column by @virsanghvi on the Delhi gym controversy. Might I add a piece of trivia: a few years ago, a leading Mumbai club was almost taken over by the Govt of Maharashtra. How was it resolved? By ensuring that sufficient IAS and IPS officers got membership! Moral: govts change, the bureaucrats remain the permanent power ‘elite’. By the way, wonder what our ‘rulers’ have to say about the expensive renovations in so many MP/ministers bungalows and offices lately. And why won’t that ever be debated beyond the predictable Lutyens elite trope? Truth is, Angrez chale gaye, Cong chali gayi, now a ‘new’ BJP elite has taken over. Vilfredo Pareto’s ‘circulation of elites’ theory is alive and well in the national capital and beyond!

@TweetinderKaul Is that all he got? Serving leaders need motorcades and planes for security and governance; a nation can't afford political instability. Comparing active public duty to retired Babus drinking cheap liquor in a private club is completely inappropriate. The rest is just gibberish.

This is an excellent piece on why calling Gymkhana elite is completely against the facts.

@virsanghvi Serving leaders need motorcades and planes for security and governance; a nation can't afford political instability. Comparing active public duty to retired Babus drinking cheap liquor in a private club is completely inappropriate. The rest is just gibberish.

Sharp Edge: I don’t like Raj era clubs and I will never become a member of one. So whatever happens to the Delhi Gym makes no difference to my life. And yes it may be unfair to charge only a nominal rent to a club that mostly caters to retired army officers & civil servants But if you are talking about unfairness why stop at veterans? Why not throw ministers out of their huge houses? Why not take away their motorcades? Ground their private planes? Today’s Lutyens elite comprises politicians who have run Lutyens Delhi for a decade and live in those huge Lutyens bungalows.Why pamper the new Lutyens elite and persecute soldiers who have fought for our country and bureaucrats who gave their lives for India ? Don’t swallow the propaganda & the lies. Don’t let political dadagiri extend to attacking veterans and retired civil servants while politicians live off honest tax payers theprint.in/opinion/sharp-…

@Tushar15 Pls don't bring temple issues into Gymkhana discussions. It's a false equivalence. I saw you say this in 2 debates already. Perpetual leases of public property lack propriety. Reclamation of temples is a nuanced subject. Emotions of the public DO MATTER.

However, I don’t see the club shutting down on June 5. I am a firm believer in the capacity of the Indian state to turn a simple case into something far more intricate, and to delay the obvious. Told you so.

@tavleen_singh It's alright. Let's first evict non serving elites who are of no use to common citizens. Politicians are of little use at least.

@VishalBhargava5 Failing to see the difference between public housing welfare and elite luxury subsidies is peak ignorance. Ordinary citizens paying lease rent for their homes is a civic necessity. Multi-millionaires hoarding 27 acres of prime land for cheap gin is just pure, shameless greed.

Delhi Gymkhana: Be Careful What You Wish For I have never been to Delhi Gymkhana and have my own issues with the way elite clubs in India are run. But we must be careful what we wish for. Many are revelling in the fact that Delhi Gymkhana is on the verge of being taken over. Their logic is clear: It is on public land at subsidized rates that is not open to public. The logic is sound but if you adopt that principle you will realise that there are many whose properties can be taken over. Many will realise that even their homes are on land that is given on subsidized rents. In Mumbai - that is as much a norm as it is an exception. Homes are built on collector land/port trust land/leasehold land where residents are paying much lesser than they should be. In many cases - the purpose of giving the land and its actual usage are very different. To any observer the violation will be apparent. So yes - its fine to revel in an elite bastion being put on notice. But don't get carried away with the principle. Your own asset may be next.