The white-washed bungalows remain, but a second chapter is being drafted for Lutyens’ Delhi

While the residents change, the bungalows with their large lawns remain the way the British wanted them. But for how long will the walls stand?

Delhi was not the first new capital city the British constructed in one of its colonies. But it outshone every other capital constructed by them: Ottawa (Canada), Pretoria (South Africa) and Canberra (Australia). William Dalrymple writes about Rajpath or Kingsway in his book  City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi: “It was planned as an imperial Champs Elysees complete with India Gate its own butter coloured Arc De Triomphe but it was far wider, far greener and far more magnificent than anything comparable in Europe…” The idea was to shock and awe, as the British wanted Delhi to intimidate Indian subjects with its style and grandeur.

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The Lutyens bungalows, however, aren’t exactly breathtaking. While they do stand in middle of a large green lawn, there is something distinctly forlorn and forbidding about them. When the British constructed sprawling bungalows for their bureaucracy in the splendid new capital, they were never meant for permanent occupation: these houses were designed for temporary British residents who replaced each other like guests in a hotel.

Post-Independence Parliamentarians continue with this trend, moving out at the end of their terms to make room for the next round of lawmakers. Some, however, stay on long enough for their identities to become fused with their address. Now, a new chapter for Lutyens’ Delhi is being drafted. The white-washed bungalows with large lawns and red compound walls remain the way they were built by the British, but the nameplates have changed in the eight years of the Narendra Modi regime.

Many well-known residents have either passed on or are no longer in power to hold on to these houses. There are, however, a few who have circled back to these homes via the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters.

Many more changes are in the offing. The BJP, which moved into a palatial office at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in 2018, is still to relinquish its old office at 11, Ashoka Road. The Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri in a press conference on June 2 said that the government will be moving out the political parties from these bungalows. Congress too will have to vacate 24, Akbar Road which has been the Congress headquarters since 1978. It has sought more time.

Last week, socialist leader Sharad Yadav vacated 7, Tughlaq Road, where he had been living for 22 years. He stayed on, even after he was disqualified from the Rajya Sabha in 2017 for opposing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. He fought it out in the courts to retain the house. On May 31, Yadav and his family removed their nameplate, addressed one last press conference and drove out for the final time. The house is now being prepped for its next occupant, as per sources, a Supreme Court judge.