Why Justice Katju Says He Will Shed No Tears for the Delhi Gymkhana Club
- Delhi Gymkhana Club Eviction Row: Justice Katju Calls It a Colonial Relic
- Elite Privilege and Colonial Legacy: Justice Katju Targets Delhi Gymkhana Club
Justice Markandey Katju criticises the Delhi Gymkhana Club amid its eviction controversy, calling it a colonial relic symbolising elite privilege and indifference to the suffering of India’s poor.
I will shed no tears if the Delhi Gymkhana Club meets its demise
Justice Markandey Katju
The Delhi Gymkhana Club has been issued a notice by the Central Government to vacate the land on which it stands.
I am not going into the legality of the notice, as I believe the matter is sub judice in the Delhi High Court.
But what I wish to say, on the basis of my own several visits there, is that it is frequented, and its members are, well to do businessmen, high-ranking bureaucrats and military officers, and other affluent so called 'elite' of society, and their families, who care two hoots for the vast majority of Indians who are poor. They come there to eat good food, drink excellent liquor ( often imported, and consequently very expensive ), talk gossip, and generally entertain themselves and make merry, while totally indifferent and insensitive to the terrible sufferings of the Indian masses.
It is a colonial relic, and I will shed no tears if it meets its demise.
(Justice Katju is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. These are his personal views.)
