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Beyond the dense foliage of Gulhar, Shatoosh, Peepal, Neem, Banyan and Ashoka trees that line the road to CPI(M) headquarters on Bhai Veer Singh Marg, time stands still in the ground floor canteen of AK Gopalan Bhavan. And so does the price.
The austere mess and its humble fare of chapathi, sabzi, dal, rice – all for Rs 12 a plate – offers more than just subsidised food to veteran leaders, referred to as ‘whole-timers’, and foot soldiers. It preserves the basic tenets and soul of the Communist party; a retreat where ‘whole-timers’, workers and even party applicants break bread across the table from each other.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury is a regular here. “Ever since we became ‘whole-timers’ of the party and started working in the party headquarters… this has been a regular practice since I joined the party in 1986. It’s been nearly 40 years. Since then, we have been having lunch in the party mess,” he tells News18.
The canteen is aptly bereft of any modern gadgets, except for a 230-litre Samsung fridge. Other appliances and essentials include a cold water dispenser, an Usha mixer and a wall clock. The mess has three dining tables with four chairs each, one dining board across the windowed wall with a few more chairs, ceiling and wall-mounted fans, two stoves, multiple gas cylinders and, of course, cooking vessels, steel glasses and trays.
The most interesting item, however, is a cardboard cut-out with A4 size papers glued as a stack. The makeshift notepad hangs off a wall and displays the monthly account; mess dues pending against each ‘whole-timer’. Yechury owes Rs 132, politburo members A Vijayaraghav and MA Baby owe Rs 24 and Rs 255, respectively, while Ashok Dhawle owes the highest at Rs 1,165.
“This has been our regular life. In fact, when we have meetings and more people come to the mess, we all stand in a line, pick up our plates and serve ourselves. Sometimes, the cook helps us. That has been the practice,” adds Yechury.
MA Baby recollects that the practice of all comrades sharing the dining space dates back to EMS Namboodiripad, the first chief minister of Kerala and former CPM general secretary, when the party’s headquarters shifted from Calcutta to 14 Ashoka Road in Delhi during the Emergency.
“As a student activist, I used to work from Delhi along with Comrade Sitaram (Yechury) and a few others. We used to eat from the party headquarters’ canteen at 14 Ashoka Road. So, comrade EMS Namboodiripad used to come and sit there, so did Jyoti Basu. All of us used to sit there – ‘whole-timers’, student fronts, youth fronts. We all eat the same food together. We wash our plates afterwards. This practice continues since the time of P Sundarayya and EMS Namboodiripad,” he says.
Dining with housekeeping staff Brij Lal, Baby says, “We have rice, dal, dahi, pieces of pyaaz, mirch chapathi. This is a very good lunch we have. This is a Marxist-Leninist lunch.”
The canteen has another staunch patron in Politburo member Brinda Karat. “In the earlier years, many more people who used to come and eat in the canteen. In fact, at that time, some Members of Parliament used to prefer our canteen and brought comrades here to eat rather than go to the Parliament canteen,” she tells News18.
Calling it a “food shelter”, Karat says the “inclusive” canteen doesn’t provide gourmet food but simple dal, roti, sabzi as well as non-vegetarian menu twice a week.
“The canteen also supplies tea and coffee. It is well-known in AKG Bhavan that people come and say ‘chalo AKG Bhavan ka ek cup chai ya coffee toh hum zaroor pi lenge’ (We will definitely have a cup of AKG Bhavan’s tea or coffee).”
A plate of lunch or dinner costs just Rs 12, while tea and coffee – prepared three times a day at 10am, 3:30pm and 6pm – is free. On Mondays, there is chicken and on Fridays, egg curry. The ‘working lunch’ usually consists of rice, roti, dal, dahi and a sabzi. The party takes care of the fuel cost and only the actual price of the ingredients used is charged.
Ramadhar Singh from Muzzafarpur in Bihar has been working here as a cook for the last 11 years and is waiting for his membership application to the CPM to be accepted. “Today we have ghia ki sabzi, kaala masoor dal, chawal, dahi and roti for lunch. Yesterday, it was karela instead of ghia,” he says.
Ramadhar, too, eats in the mess and does not have to pay for his own food. He says the footfall has dropped since the Covid-19 lockdown. “Today, I made food for 19 people. Yesterday, it was for 21 people. Everyone has food together. Yesterday, Comrade (Sitaram) Yechury had lunch here at 2:30 pm. Whenever he is here, he eats with the staff,” he says.
Udayveer Dhingra from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh joined the CPM in 1996, works as a housekeeper and also participates in protests. He has been working at AKG Bhavan for 25 years and is usually seen with a broom and mop, keeping the floors of AKG Bhavan clean.
“The party is for the poor and is poor. Accordingly, the food here costs very less. In these times of inflation, it is not possible to have such good food,” says Dhingra.
“The good thing about this party is that everyone is equal, there is no bhedh-bhaav, no oonch-neech. We all have food like family and friends. In fact, that is what I liked most about the party. Only yesterday, while I was having food, the general secretary (Yechury) came and he also had food here. And if he is having food here, we come in and we just join,” he adds with pride.
Dhingra also has a message for the Narendra Modi government. “Price rise is unbearable. I have been working here for 25 years. I know a bit about politics. The BJP is wearing dark glasses. It is the Prime Minister who has to take responsibility and provide relief.”
Another party member, Gareeb Nath Thakur, originally from Bihar, has been here for the past 22 years. He handles maintenance and canteen work. He gets vegetables and milk every morning from Kalibari or Paharganj, spending Rs 250 to Rs 350. “I don’t get anything special. It is usually parwal, karela, bhindi, katthal, tori, aloo, pyaaz. I get food here at Rs 12. You don’t get food cheaper than this,” he says.
Accounts are kept meticulously for each diner by members of the kitchen committee. MA Baby explains: “My wife handles my finances. So, every month, it would be calculated how many breakfasts, how many lunches I had from the party mess. Everyone has to pay; from general secretary Sitaram Yechury to everyone.”
The mess is home to several warm memories for the ‘whole-timers’. Yechury recalls former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and former prime minister IK Gujral having food here.
MA Baby recalls that when the party headquarters was at 14 Ashoka Road, a former Kerala minister and MP had complained to Namboodiripad on being served just two small pieces of meat. “Comrade, if you eat meat, the teeth should know that!”
Namboodiripad and his contemporaries have passed on, but their way of life lives on here.
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