“Classy and posh, Khan Market is a favourite of the expat and diplomatic community. It was originally allocated as seed land to immigrants from the North-West Frontier Province after the partition of India. Today, it is a popular shopping destination in Delhi. It is a large U-shaped market with two parallel ‘U’s and some extensions. You will find excellent book shops, up-market boutiques, opticians, grocers, tailors, brand showrooms, lifestyle stores, etc. here. There are also a couple of boutiques selling up-market household furnishings. Across the road are shops that specialize mainly in lighting. You will also find many eating joints: cafes, restaurants, bakeries and street-food corners.
Khan Chacha is a landmark: its tikkas and seekhs are a rage with the crowd. Amrapali is famous for its silver jewellery. Ranna Gill makes two major fashion statements each year with her summer and winter lines.”
—website of Delhi Tourism
Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion on Saturday that his image was the result of his hard work and not built “by the Khan Market Gang”, a not so big, but bustling market, 3.5km from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, began trending online. For Khan Market, to rank amongst the costliest real estates in the world , there has got to be something very special about it. And for Modi to charge that the "Khan Market Gang" did not build his image, the crowd that form the market should be from the upper crust, and not the pakoda sellers. But visit the market, and coming out of shops are women carrying environment-friendly bags with sustainable sarees woven in some remote part of Bihar or a bunch of first-time voters having fun over a wedge of blueberry cheesecake and a chocolate vanilla fudge ice cream.
Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha tweeted that Modi may have a problem with the name of the market. While that can be debated endlessly, this iconic market is in fact known more for bookshops, cafes, grocers and opticians. “Historian Romila Thapar has visited this old family run bookshop in Khan Market. Author Gita Mehta talked of it in her book. Late poet Kamala Das would walk down to this shop in the evenings from her home in nearby Rabindra Nagar. This is Faqir Chand and Sons, a mom-and-pop shop around the corner” writes a blogger who goes by the name of Delhiwala. They were not the only members of the 'Khan Market Gang'! The bookshops, including Bahrisons, knew every customer's taste. In fact, many BJP leaders who have made Delhi their home, even if temporarily, are seen going in or coming out of one of the many stores in the market that comes under the New Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The land was given to about 150 refugees from the North-West Frontier Province. They decided to name their locality after after Khan Abdul Jaffar Khan—brother of Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan—who had helped them migrate safely through the maze of violence and bloodshed of India's partition. They lived there, and bought essential groceries from stores set up in the middle lane—almost a service lane.
As families grew in size, many of the first settlers moved out, preferring only to run shops from here. A wide range of shops and stores catered to people in the neighbouring residential areas of Sujan Singh Park, Golf Links, Sundar Nagar etc. The visitors were upmarket, sometimes wealthy, generally professional and sarkari employees. Then the expats started dropping in for the quality and variety, as well as ease of shopping. Over the years, the changing variety and quality of consumption was reflected in the way the shops stocked. It was not about popular brands screaming from hoardings, like the New York's Time Square. There were bookshops that had regular clientele, there were boutiques, opticians and bakeries that are catering to at least the third generation now. There is a vet there, and Maneka Gandhi has been spotted there. It is where many party spokespersons invite journos for a chat over coffee—the place is older than the idea of 'chai pe charcha'.
Anyone rushing to see people in Khan Market to identify members of the “Khan Market Gang” are going to be somewhat disappointed. The place is not flashy or flamboyant. There is class for sure, and that is not a bad thing to have. There are stores that can help build one's image, literally—outlets selling traditional aesthetic jewellery in Amrapali, handwoven fabrics from across the country in Fab India or fine cotton in Anokhi, a range of handicrafts and fahsion wear in Good Earth. But can a political image be built by the “Khan Market Gang”?