Indira Bhawan: The new Congress HQ has a BJP shadow over it. Here's how

Indira Bhawan: The Congress party moved its national headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in New Delhi to a new address – Indira Bhawan at 9A, Kotla Road – on Wednesday, January 15

The five-storied building – named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi – was formally inaugurated by Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and other leaders.

The Congress party has been working out of the sprawling 24, Akbar Road bungalow in the national capital’s Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ) since 1978 when it used to be the official residence of the then Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, Gaddam Venkatswamy, a close aide of Indira Gandhi.

The new address of the Congress headquarters, however, has a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) connection. In 2005-06, the Supreme Court asked political parties to move their registered offices out of the LBZ. The Union government identified the stretch between ITO (Income Tax Office) crossing and Connaught Place – with Deen Dayal Upadhyay(DDU) Marg connecting the two landmarks – for allotting land to political parties.

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by former prime minister late Manmohan Singh Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. But the Congress party decided to have the front entrance of its new office on Kotla Road, instead of DDU Marg, named after Jana Sangh (later BJP) ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

“Perhaps the Congress party did not want to be associated with Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the BJP idealogue,” said political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai.

Upadhyay, a lifelong RSS pracharak, worked with Syama Prasad Mookerjee in the initial years of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), which later became the BJP.

“Having an address with BJP idealogue’s name on it is the last thing that the Congress would want to do, especially after he became a tall figure in the post-Modi era of the BJP,” says Kidwai, who has written 24 Akbar Road.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg got its name during the Janata Party era of 1977-80. It was earlier known as Rouse Avenue, after Alexander Macdonald Rouse (1878-1966), the superintending engineer during the construction of the new capital. An alley in the neighbourhood is still called the Rouse Avenue Road after the Rouse Avenue courts.

Named after Firoz Shah Tughlaq

In 1967, Vijay Kumar Malhotra-led Jana Sangh had won the civic elections in Delhi. Upadhyay died in February 1968 and in 1970, the Delhi civic body renamed the road as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.

The Kotla Marg, which houses the new Congress office, is named after the iconic 14th-century fort, Firoz Shah Kotla, built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.

“Kotla is a neutral name, unless you want to associate Firoz Shah Tughlaq with it,” says Kidwai.

In 1978 when the party was out of power for the first time since Independence, Indira Gandhi was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections after the Emergency. Two years after moving to 24, Akbar Road, Indira GandhDelhi Assembly election. Once a powerhouse, the Congress party has failed to win a single seat in the last two assembly polls in the national capital.