24 Akbar Road: From Indira Gandhi to Mallikarjun Kharge, history of 5 decades of victory and defeat and change

New Delhi: ’24 Akbar Road’, located in Lutyens Zone of Delhi, may be known as the headquarters of the Congress for the last five decades, but this address is a witness to many such decisions, policies and events which have been beneficial for India along with the oldest party of the country. Also proved to be transformative and historic. This address saw seven Congress Presidents from Indira Gandhi to Mallikarjun Kharge. It witnessed the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Sitaram Kesari’s departure from the post of President, Indira Gandhi’s return to power in 1980, the landslide mandate victory of 1984, 1991 , the coalition governments of 2004 and 2009, the crushing defeat of 2014 and 2019 and The defeat of 2024 also bears witness to many historical moments with ups and downs, including hope for the future.

Congress headquarters is shifting

Now Congress is shifting its headquarters to ‘9A Kotla’ road, a few kilometers away from this place on Wednesday. Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the new headquarters. However, the party has clarified that it will not vacate ’24 Akbar Road’. Senior journalist and writer Rashid Kidwai has mentioned in detail the history related to the Congress headquarters in his/her book ’24 Akbar Road’.

After the independence of the country, the headquarters of the Congress used to be ‘7 Jantar-Mantar Road’ but this address was changed in 1978 amid the changed circumstances after the election defeat after the Emergency and then the split of the Congress. At that time, Indira Gandhi, who was facing difficult times, was supported by the Rajya Sabha member of Congress (I) led by her. Venkataswamy gave his/her official residence ’24, Akbar Road’ for party functioning.

Indira returned to power in 1980

After this, this white colored bungalow in Lutyens Zone became the Congress headquarters. Importantly, at ’24 Akbar Road’, Congress returned to power in 1980 under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. In the Lok Sabha elections held after his/her assassination in 1984, the party won more than 400 seats. Congress faced defeat in the subsequent Lok Sabha elections and the then party president and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi left power.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated before the 1991 elections, although the party returned to power thanks to the alliance and then the era of PV Narasimha Rao’s dominance at ’24 Akbar Road’ began. A few years later, Sitaram Kesari became the president, however, in that era of politics dominated by ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’, the graph of Congress started going downwards. Then the demand within the Congress to hand over the command of the party to Sonia Gandhi started increasing.

Sitaram Kesari’s farewell

After this, in the year 1998, Sonia Gandhi’s active political innings started and Kesari’s departure from ’24 Akbar Road’. Opponents of Congress also allege that Kesri was treated disrespectfully at the party headquarters. After Sonia Gandhi took over as Congress President, the threat of ’24 Akbar Road’ started increasing again and the graph of Congress also started rising rapidly.

Despite Congress’s defeat in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the party made a spectacular comeback in the 2004 elections and formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under its leadership. In the 2009 elections, Congress’s graph increased further and it retained power with the help of more than 200 seats of its own and its alliance partners. In the year 2014, difficult times started for Congress and in that election the party was reduced to the lowest figure of 44 seats in its history. In the next election also, Congress suffered a crushing defeat and got only 52 seats.

Defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections

Congress’s last Lok Sabha election at this headquarters was in 2024, in which the party lost, but it won 99 seats and there was hope that it could regain its old glory in Indian politics. While the headquarters of Congress was at ’24 Akbar Road’, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Sitaram Kesari, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge took command of the party.

Aung San Suu lived here at the age of 15

Before becoming the Congress headquarters, Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi lived in this building for two years from 1961. Suu Kyi was about 15 years old at that time and had come here with her diplomat mother. At that time ’24 Akbar Road’ was known as ‘Burma House’. By the way, this building was constructed by Edwin Lutyens during the British rule between 1911 and 1925.