VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
After having covered Delhi
as a journalist for over a decade, writing on and observing the political
trends, I always found the city rather non-political in nature.
Unlike States like Bihar, West
Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and others where everyone
preoccupation is politics, the average person in Delhi is least interested in
the person who is going to sit in the Chief Minister’s office in Player’s
Building, a tastefully done up highrise near ITO on the banks of the Yamuna.
In fact, people in Delhi
are more interested in crime which is happening in their neighbourhood, public
transport system which they use every day, drinking water and other aspects
which affect their day-to-day activities rather than the political scenario at
the local level. They are least bothered who is providing them and take it for
granted that the quality of life will be good in these parameters.
The reason is simple. Majority of
the people who inhabit Delhi now
are migrants, have come to Delhi
for economic opportunities and the quality of life which the city provides.
This tribe of migrants is increasing by a rapid pace, pushing those who
consider themselves to be “original Delhiites” on the fringes as far as
percentage of population is concerned.
Even Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit, hailing from Punjab and contesting elections in
UP, came to Delhi for political
opportunity after having lost successive elections from Kannauj and even from East
Delhi once. In a bid to cut to size old style leaders like HKL
Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar, she was made the State Congress president and when
onion prices hit the roof and severe infighting broke out in the ruling BJP,
she won and became the Chief Minister for the first time in December 1998.
It is now 15 years for Dikshit,
once a close confidante of the Gandhi family. Over the years, she has lost her
clout with the first family of the Congress and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
But as the party cannot do without her grandmotherly, urban, suave and English
speaking face and there was hardly any alternative except Ajay Maken, she
continued with the job and now has the distinction of being the longest-serving
Congress Chief Minister of any State.
But now it seems, her golden days
are behind her. She has lost her charm, promoted dynastic politics like most in
Congress in her son Sandeep, there is voter fatigue, corruption during
Commonwealth Games, prices of onions, inflation and acts of omission and
commission of the Central Government to haunt her during this battle.
The fact that Narendra Modi has
addressed well-attended rallies in the Capital while those of Rahul saw an
indifferent and sparse crowd could indicate the way political wind is blowing
in the national Capital. Dikshit may have cleverly manipulated the delimitation
exercise of the Assembly constituencies to suit Congress but it may not help
beyond a point.
I have many anecdotes of Dikshit
as a journalist. I will narrate only one. Once after a Press conference to mark
her nine years as the Chief Minister, I found nothing much to write about.
Sipping coffee and thinking what
to write after the conference was over, I saw Dikshit approaching me and
another journalist. I asked her hadn’t she got bored with the same job for nine
years. Spontaneously she said, “Yes, I have got bored.” She soon realised that
this could be construed otherwise and her opponents in the party would target
her. As an afterthought, she added later that “there are new challenges every
day.” But I had got my headline. “Sheila Dikshit is bored of being CM”. The
publication I was working with then bore the brunt of her anger after the news
story was published and its advertisement was stopped for a few weeks. That is
one facet of Dikshit who knows how to silence her critics.
Dikshit’s main rival Harsh
Vardhan is different and is the aam aadmi (common man) of Delhi
politics. He was the in-charge of BJP Haryana earlier and often visited Chandigarh
in that capacity where I interacted with him. I have an anecdote with the BJP’s
chief ministerial candidate as well.
Harsh Vardhan invited me for
dinner at a five-star hotel in Central Delhi when he was
the president of Delhi BJP to talk about politics, Delhi
and the State of the party.
The moment I joined him after the
day’s work, I told him frankly that his choice of a five-star hotel for dinner
was unlike any politician from the RSS-BJP who would prefer to offer only
chai-samosa to showcase their so-called simplicity.
“I am an ENT doctor in Krishna
Nagar till afternoon and then the president of Delhi BJP for the remaining part
of the day. I earn enough to afford a dinner at a five-star hotel from my
private practice once in a while and invite a guest as well,” he told me.
The BJP could not have made a
better choice than the non-controversial and simple ENT doctor as the chief
ministerial candidate. He seems to be more than a match for Dikshit in getting
the solid middle class votes.
Also, he hails from East
Delhi , the area which has a huge density of population which if
translated into votes, help the party and finally Harsh Vardhan to occupy the
third floor spacious office in Player’s Building, which Dikshit has decorated
beautifully with artwork and expensive paintings.
Arvind Kejriwal is the outsider
in the race and it is early days for AAP in politics. Opinion polls do suggest
that he would get a good number of seats and the percentage of votes would be
in double digits. But I feel, he could have sympathisers in the upmarket areas
of the city — New Delhi and parts
of South Delhi . But this section hardly comes out to
vote on polling day. Kejriwal and his party’s presence in the unauthorised
colonies, JJ colonies, villages and the Outer Delhi areas are still limited.
What seems to be certain is that
the margin of victory of either the BJP or Congress would be wafer thin. I
would not place my money on either Dikshit or Harsh Vardhan given the fact that
in Delhi opinions change overnight
in this city. But given the dynamism of city politics, it seems the soft-spoken
doctor has an edge.
As AAP is an untested electoral
commodity, it has worked on the nerves of both the parties and could perhaps
decide the winner in a closely contested battle. What is certain is that AAP
will cut into the votes of both the parties, whichever party suffers the
maximum damage by Kejriwal and company, would have to sit out. (November 24, 2013)
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