24 Akbar Road: Wrapping within its walls, history of Congress and much more

New Delhi: If walls could talk, 24 Akbar Road would write itself a book - of the days of the Raj, of the Burma of the 1960s and mostly of the dramatic ups and downs of the Congress that headquartered itself in its spacious premises 47 years ago.

Always more than an address, the Lutyens era bungalow that witnessed many a story and secret cedes its place as a political nerve centre on Wednesday when the opposition party moves to its new office, the Indira Gandhi Bhawan, at Kotla Road a few kilometres away.

The Akbar Road bungalow once housed Sir Reginald Maxwell who was a member of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's executive council. It was also home to a teen Aung San Suu Kyi in 1961 when her mother was appointed ambassador to India.

The Congress has been its mainstay though. More than just an office for the party, the premises set in expansive lawns was witness to the tenure of seven Congress presidents.

It is the constant in the Congress’ history - and through it the country’s -- as the party navigated the twists and turns of India’s politics through the decades.

Party old-timers and romantics agree that modern amenities and a larger area are the need of the hour but the emotional connect and unfolding of history associated with the 24 Akbar Road address will always stay strong.

On a chilly January morning in 1978, a team of 20 workers from the Indira Gandhi-headed breakaway Congress entered its precincts, the first Congress members to do so.

It is another cold January. And then, as now, the Congress is again in the opposition, facing mounting electoral challenges as it did post-Emergency under Indira Gandhi and striving to stage a comeback.

A Type VII bungalow in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, 24 Akbar Road was then allotted to G Venkatswamy, a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh who chose to side with Indira Gandhi at a time when most Congress leaders had distanced themselves from her for fear of retaliation from the then ruling Janata Party.

The story of how and in what circumstances the party moved and the address' previous brush with history is well documented in political commentator Rasheed Kidwai's book "24 Akbar Road".

Suu Kyi, who went on become a Nobel laureate for peace and leader of the movement for human rights and democracy in Myanmar, was “barely fifteen, her hair in thick long plaits, when she first arrived at 24 Akbar Road with her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, Aung San’s widow, who was appointed Myanmar’s ambassador to India”, Kidwai writes.

“Back then, 24 Akbar Road was called Burma House - so named by Jawaharlal Nehru in recognition of Daw Khin Kyi’s special status," he says.

The house, built by Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1911 and 1925, is regarded as a singularly fine example of a blend of British colonial architecture and the new modernist style.

As the Congress embraces the new, many would look back at its time at 24 Akbar Road as a mixed bag electorally but acknowledge it had been a witness to shaping India's history for decades.

The period after the Emergency was a testing time for Indira Gandhi. Family loyalist Mohammad Yunus offered his residence, 12 Willingdon Crescent, to the Gandhi family as their private residence. It thus became home to Indira, Rajiv, his wife Sonia, their children, Rahul and Priyanka, Sanjay, Maneka, and five dogs - all moving in.

Since 12 Willingdon Crescent was filled to capacity, 24 Akbar Road was chosen as the new official Congress headquarters.

"Facing the residence of the Chief of the Indian Air Force and the Intelligence Bureau’s political surveillance unit, it comprised five barely-furnished bedrooms, a living and dining hall, and a guest room. The outhouses were in a state of complete neglect and the garden was a mess of unruly hedges and a riot of weeds," Rasheed says in his book.

As the Congress finally moved to 24 Akbar Road, under Indira Gandhi's leadership, the office quickly became synonymous with the grand old party and the theatre to many historic decisions and drama.

Who can forget the Congress comeback in 1980 when Indira Gandhi stormed back to power, the dramatic developments that saw the ouster of Sitaram Kesri and Sonia Gandhi taking over as party chief, the back-to-back Lok Sabha wins in 2004 and 2009 and the crushing defeats in 2014 and 2019.

Just a few months ago, a picture of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, flashing smiles and victory signs at the party headquarters after the Lok Sabha results went viral. One more of the historic images taken at the address etched in public memory.

The advantage of the house was that it had a wicket gate linking it to 10 Janpath, which was then the office of the Indian Youth Congress and subsequently allotted to Rajiv and then Sonia Gandhi.

Over the years, 10 Janpath and 24 Akbar Road forged an unbreakable link. The two premises next to each other served as the powerhouse of the grand old party and played hosts to many key meetings.

Before Independence, Motilal Nehru's Anand Bhavan in then Allahabad was the Congress party headquarters. After 1947, the party moved to the party's headquarters in New Delhi.

Indira’s Congress lost control over 7 Jantar Mantar in 1969 when the Congress suffered its first split. Indira Gandhi set up a temporary party office at Windsor Place at the residence of Congress party loyalist M V Krishnappa. In 1971, the Congress office moved to 5 Rajendra Prasad Road and from there to 24 Akbar Road in 1978.

And now to another new address.

Indira Gandhi Bhawan will be inaugurated by Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

The new state-of-the-art AICC headquarters symbolises the Congress party's continuing mission to uphold the vision of its stalwarts, the party has said.

As the Congress moves to the Indira Bhawan, the electoral challenges are daunting, especially on the back of assembly polls defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra.

However, the Congress would be hoping that just like last time when it switched headquarters, lady luck would shine on it and its fortunes would turn for the better.