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After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15.
Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
"The one thing that struck me about the Congress office at 24 Akbar Road was that it had very easy access. Anybody could get in and even meet the leaders," Rasheed Kidwai tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com.
"I remember Motilal Vora, then Congress treasurer, would meet everybody at his office at 24, Akbar Road.
Whoever wanted to meet him just had to send in a slip and he would call them.
I remember one time I was with him, and a man came in and started talking to him very softly. Since he was incoherent and inaudible, Motilalji and myself leaned forward to hear him.
The visitor was projecting himself as Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law! This was in 1996-1997 before Priyanka's marriage and it was evident that the man was of unstable mind. But what struck me was that Motilalji did not summon the security guards to throw him out.
He kept listening, and when the man had finished, he politely asked him to leave.
Voraji was omnipresent at the Congress HQ. He would come in the morning and spend the whole day. He was a politician of the old school. Then while leaving, he would ask the people in his office if they wanted tea and that meant another 10 minutes.
After the 4 pm customary briefing to the media, many media persons would flock to him in small groups.
So Voraji got a mini kitchenette set up on one side of his office. It had tea bags in various flavours, sugar, milk etc and was offered the moment you entered so that it reduced the time spent on the tea business.
There was an element of decency about that time. It sounds like a fairy tale now that someone who was the second or third most important man after the Gandhis' in the Congress hierarchy was so accessible and freely met everyone.
He and Ahmad Patel were Sonia Gandhi's eyes and ears throughout the UPA years.
There was a pronounced openness at that time at the Congress HQ.
Sitaram Kesri as Congress president was also easily accessible. He was a high ranking leader, but you could sit next to him and he would talk in his easy style.
This easy access was a redeeming feature.
Rajiv Gandhi spent a lot of time there as general secretary and did a lot for the party. He used to come and meet people on the lawns. Indira Gandhi was prime minister at that time and everybody would see him. He would meet 100, 150 people.
P V Narasimha Rao was also Congress president, but did not come to the office.
There were three leaders in the Congress who were in a non-derogatory manner referred to as Gandhiji's three monkeys -0 see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil.
One was Congress Spokesman V N Gadgil who was hard of hearing. One had to repeat questions and Gadgilji used it cleverly to buy some time while formulating a response.
The other Congress spokesman was Chandulal Chandarkar, the MP from Madhya Pradesh who had a vision issue. He was an amazing man who had covered several Olympics for the Hindi newspaper Hindustan.
Then there was Major Ved Prakash who was always present at the HQ come rain, thunderstorm, cold, or garmi ki loo.
The major would not speak -- so Gadgilji would not hear, Chandulalji would not see and the Major would not speak much -- and this troika would brief the media every day.
Then there was Janardhan Dwivedi, AICC secretary who would sit in the office at the back quarters for many years.
When he became general secretary, he moved from the back quarters to the main building, which was part of the original Lutyens bungalow with a big central room and 7-8 rooms. The two offices were separated by 10 metres or so, but it took Dwivediji 20 years to cover that short distance.
Dr Manmohan Singh used to have a small room when he headed the Congress Economic Cell which was in a very small room.
Pranab Mukherjee also spent a lot of time at the office. He was the treasurer when the Congress moved into 24, Akbar Road in 1978. Buta Singh, A R Antulay, Syed Mir Qasim -- all these party stalwarts of that era -- were regulars.
Some like Digvijay Singh were very punctual. When he was AICC general secretary he would be in the office every day and have 90% of his meetings there.
Oscar Fernandes, Ambika Soni, Mohsina Kidwai were some of the other regulars.
Ghulam Nabi Azad occupied almost every room of the main building because he was in charge of 26 of the 29 states at one time or the other.
He used to make use of the lawn and meet people in groups on the grounds. Actually, Rajiv Gandhi started this custom when he would stand out in the winter sun and meet people.
To Be Continued...
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com