NewDelhi: The Congress party is bracing for the relocation of its central office from the renowned 24 Akbar Road to a contemporary seven-storeyed building called “Indira Bhavan” at 9A Kotla Road. Sources from the party have said that, although the move was delayed by years, the new modern facility, including the vast underground floor, is now ready, and the relocation process is expected to be done in the next 1.5 months.
The construction of the new headquarters started in 2016 and had to face several delays that were caused by various reasons. However, the Congress party is now preparing to make the huge transition, thus marking the end of an era at 24 Akbar Road, which has been a place for Congress’s political story since 1978.
A Storm, A Tree, and A Forgotten Symbolic Tale
With the news of the transfer matter, the old story linked to 24 Akbar Road has come back to the public attention again. In the third week of May 1999, a storm, one of the strongest in Delhi, uprooted an old tree in the premises of the Congress headquarters and sadly resulted in the death of an eight-year-old boy. The tree that fell also wiped out the temporary temple, which stood inside the office premises, that was important both to the Congress workers and aspiring candidates.
Reports say that the tree had been planted right after Congress was moved to Akbar Road in 1978. The temple was built by a holy figure, who was also the stranger of the place, and afterwards, it became a political and spiritual place that hosted many party workers visiting and praying for success in politics. The tree and the temple came to be fixtures of the congress office and thereby took on emotional meanings that were far richer than just being objects or structures.
The event of the tree falling made many people in the party feel uncomfortable, causing some to think of its alleged connotations. Several Congress workers thought that the whole event should be imagined as a symbol of the party’s decreasing strength at that period of time and drew a link between the fallen tree and the weakened political base of Congress.
Sonia Gandhi’s Curiosity and Party Introspection
The news of the fallen tree and the destroyed temple reached then-Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who expressed her curiosity about how a robust tree could just disappear in the storm. Officials in the party explained to her that the reason was the tree’s weak roots through the years, which made it able to be blown. This saying went off in different ways in the party, as some leaders made comparisons of the state of the tree to their idea of the internal crisis that Congress was going through at the time.
Nevertheless, the party proved its strength as it returned dramatically to power in the general elections of 2004 and 2009, when it attained high-level victories that were the manifestation of the internal strength and support the party had. Although the tree was a symbolic loss, the party showed that their political power was still intact.
The history’s changing days and the legacy of 24 Akbar Road
The headquarters of the Congress at 24 Akbar Road also became the lifeblood of the party during a period when it experienced hard times. The move to the new address in 1978 took place amid the political crisis, as the party had to deal with the revolt of members against then-Congress president Indira Gandhi. After her exit from the party, Indira Gandhi did not get out of politics; she regained it, however, by having several leaders on her side and rebuilding it—this action showed Congress’s capability of dealing with internal strife.
For almost 50 years, 24 Akbar Road was a witness to numerous historical decisions, political events, and strategies that had an impact on Indian politics. The move to the new headquarters at Indira Bhavan marks the Congress party’s entry into a fresh chapter in their history, as the space that was formerly designed for traditional political applications is now coming to life, but with the legacy of their past.
As Congress takes its first step into the new headquarters, the memories of 24 Akbar Road and their legacy will always be the favourite part of history and their ethnic culture. The new headquarters at Indira Bhavan stands as a leap for the party, where it is possible to restore and then return the party’s dominance in the Indian political scene.