VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
There is another Chandigarh
— the city of overcrowded colonies, villages and a few slums where the
inhabitants do have a lot of expectation from the elected representative.
Though their numbers are less in the overall percentage of the city, they are
very vocal and demanding. The late migrants want to move from the slums to the
one-room accommodation which the Government provides under a housing scheme.
Those in the slums want better living condition, jobs, more BPL cards etc. This
is the Chandigarh where the service
providers of the sectors live — maids, car cleaners, drivers, hawkers, rickshaw
and auto-rickshaw drivers, carpenters, tea and cigarette sellers etc.
The planners of the first planned
city of the country made a cardinal sin. Though they divided the city into
grids to carve out the sectors, they forgot to provide space and accommodation
for the service providers for these affluent sectors. The subsequent Master
Plans too not only failed to look at the problem of the service providers but
also failed to recognise their existence. It is only now that some one-room
houses are being provided to the old migrants, leaving the newer migrants to
curse their representatives.
Again, the developed Chandigarh
where civic issues are a non-issue is almost 3/4th of the total electorate
while the demanding Chandigarh is
only 1/4th of the electorate. However, as the poor Chandigarh
lives in densely populated areas, the candidates find it easier to address
rallies here and get a decent audience for their political rallies.
The voting preference of those
living in the sectors is largely on national lines this time — who would be in
power in New Delhi and whether Narendra Modi would shift to 7 Race Course Road
or not, the official residence of the Prime Minister. In the slums and colonies
on the outskirts of the city, Modi is too distant a figure, visible on the flex
banners and publicity material of the BJP as they grapple to find pieces of
their lives by working and slogging everyday in the sectors.
At the weekend evening, I decided
to attend an election campaign meeting of BJP candidate Kirron Kher to decipher
what prospects she had in the election when pitted against veteran Pawan Kumar
Bansal and Gul Panag of AAP.
So there I was, in a fairly large
housing society in the southern sector of the city where Kher was to address
the last meeting of the day. Two hours before the scheduled public meeting, an
announcement was made on a loudspeaker tied to an auto rickshaw. Pamphlets too
had been distributed to the residents asking them to hear the BJP candidate and
then take a call on whom to vote.
At the venue, it was a festive
atmosphere with bottled water was being served to those who had gathered along
with steaming tea by uniformed waiters. The children who had gathered in large
numbers, got soft drinks and saffron caps with ‘Modi for PM’ written boldly on
them and the BJP scarves. They wanted to see “Kirron aunty” who judges kids on
TV and gives prizes. The housewives were yet to cook their evening meal but
enjoying the hot pakoras being served by the waiters along with tea. For them,
it was a festive get together of sorts and wanted to upload the event on their
Facebook status and share the pictures on WhatsApp.
The local leader started speaking
to warm up the audience. “You just used Chinese pichkari on Holi. Earlier it was Chinese diya and candles on
Diwali. The Chinese are making even our gods and goddesses and selling them in India .
Congress rule of last 10 years has killed enterprise and production in the
country,” said the warm-up speaker, adding that “China
would be the happiest country if Congress comes to power and would start crying
if Modi becomes the Prime Minister”. Many shopkeepers and businessmen in the
gathering started clapping.
Motivated, another warm-up
speaker upped the ante. “See, only Modi can give a befitting reply to the
Chinese and the Americans by promoting manufacturing and restoring the glory of
the country which was known as the golden bird in ancient times.” The 500 odd
people gathered there were primarily BJP supporters, middle and upper middle
class with each household having on an average two cars. None of them had
concerns like erratic power supply, overflowing sewers, broken roads or lack of
schools or health facilities. The only problem raised from the podium which I
could gather was an overcrowded PGI where the people from the city can’t get
treatment due to long queues and Bansal failing to do anything. Of course, Bansal and corruption has become
synonymous in the city with BJP doing all it can to tarnish the sitting MP with
the Railgate scam.
After a delay of an hour, an
announcement was made that Kirron Kher had arrived. BJP supporters started
bursting crackers (perhaps Chinese) and sending colourful rockets to the sky.
It was like the arrival of a baraat.
Kher was ushered in on the stage even as the women and the boys jostled to
capture her on their smart phones so that they are the first with their status
update on Facebook.
“I am a daughter of Chandigarh .
My father’s name is Colonel…My house no. is…in Sector…,” she started, quickly
going on to say that the people would be electing Modi as the Prime Minister by
voting for her. She quickly denounced the Aam Aadmi Party, “Kudi changi hai, party kharab hai” (The girl (Gul Panag) is good
but the party is bad), she adds. Kher speaks in a language which is half Hindi
and half Punjabi, asking people not to waste their votes and how Modi was the
only hope in the country. She has the gathering by her side and they shot “Modi
for PM” with her. After initial hiccups, BJP has picked up pace and garnered
support for Modi and not for Kher in the sectors — the affluent Chandigarh .
Now let us shift to Ram Darbar Colony near the industrial area of the city — a
mix of a village, unauthorised colony and a slum. This is one of the
underbellies of the City Beautiful where all those maids, cleaners, drivers,
rickshaw pullers, workers in service stations, carpenters, electricians,
plumbers, tea and cigarette sellers etc come to the sectors to make the life of
the people comfortable, live. One room
is available on rent for Rs1,500 and three people easily share the room. So if
you earn Rs4,000 a month, give Rs500 as shared rent, spend Rs1,000 on food and
kitchen fuel, cycle to work and you can still save Rs2,500 if you do not drink
alcohol, chew tobacco or gutka.
This is one place where all the
four main contestants — Kher, Bansal, Panag and Jannat Jahan of the BSP — have
visited at least twice each. They are promising the moon to the voters. These include housing to those who migrated
late, more BPL cards, more subsidies, concrete roads, fixing the sewers and
improving water supply, admission to children under freeship in public schools,
opening a bigger dispensary in the vicinity etc. In fact, they are promising
whatever they can and whatever the voters ask.
Saffron caps of ‘Modi as PM’ have
already been distributed and so has the trademark AAP cap. Though Congress does
not have a cap to boast of, it has been the preferred choice of the people for
a long time here as Bansal has local representatives who facilitated people
getting voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards, BPL cards and most importantly,
admission of their children in the public schools. Some of these
representatives are always on the winning side and have shifted to BJP sensing
that it has a better chance this time round. AAP and Arvind Kejriwal too have
vocal supporters who think that if the party is in power, they would get all
they want — free house, free consultation at private hospitals and free books
and uniforms of public schools. For the first time, Ram Darbar is divided into
three segments — one each supporting Congress, AAP and BJP. But despite all
odds, Bansal still has an edge here.
So, there we are. Two separate
cities within Chandigarh with
different mood and voting preferences. If you go by sheer arithmetic, the
prosperous Chandigarh ’s choice has
a distinct edge. But this section prefers to stay home and enjoy their holiday
on polling day. If the other Chandigarh
ventures out in large numbers on April 10, Bansal and Congress could still
salvage something from the wreckage. But at the moment, the first Chandigarh
has the momentum and so has the BJP. (April 7, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment