PM's address changes after 32 years

Change from Race Course Road to Lok Kalyan Marg may not impact work

The official residence address of the Prime Minister of India — 7, Race Course Road, or 7RCR — has changed after three decades. The address, which has been home to nine PMs, will now be known as 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. The renaming happened on Wednesday.

Rajiv Gandhi was the first PM to have 7RCR as official residence. V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi have occupied the premises in subsequent years. Beside the residence of the PM, this address also serves as a workplace and hub of many high-level meetings including that of the Union Cabinet quite regularly.

An official pointed out although there’s a recall value and an emotional side to an iconic address such as 7RCR, nothing much needs to be altered after the change in name when it comes to the official communication of a PM. Any official communication related to the PM goes out from his office at South Block, next to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, and not from 7RCR, according to people in the know. In fact, it’s enough for the letterheads to mention "Prime Minister of India", without specifying the address, an official said.

Also, prime ministers usually are not known to be having visiting cards, an official said jokingly. So, no change is required there as well.

Apart from the PM’s residence, Race Course Road houses the Airforce Station, which too will need to undergo an address change. Delhi Gymkhana, a club for prominent people in the city, is there too, but its approach is from Safdarjung Road and its address is 2 Safdarjung Road.

The road was named after the Delhi Race Course, part of Delhi Race Club, established in 1940.

Recently, another road in Lutyen’s Delhi — Aurungzeb Road — was changed to Abdul Kalam Road. Gurgaon, the hub of multinationals, also got a new name —  Gurugram.

The latest name change — RCR to Lok Kalyan Marg — was a decision taken by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). The Bharatiya Janata Party's Meenakshi Lekhi, who's a member of NDMC, said Race Course Road was not an appropriate name for PM’s residence. "It can’t be an inspiration for any PM," she said.