Covid impact on migrants may be key Delhi civic body poll issue

BJP’s Jhuggi Samman Yatra, a 45-day outreach campaign, which started from October 15 and is focused on highlighting the Centre’s “pro-poor schemes” and the Delhi government’s “failures”, has sparked off a political tussle with AAP and Congress dubbing it an “eyewash” and “farce”

The impact of Covid-19 on migrants and the urban poor living in the Capital will be a key issue dominating the forthcoming municipal elections scheduled for early next year, with various political parties already trying to curry favour with those affected by it.

The BJP, which has covered over 60 slum clusters so far as part of its campaign, plans to start ‘NaMo jhuggi seva kendras’ in the next few days to help people in availing benefits under various central government schemes. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The civic polls will be crucial for all three political parties. For the Bharatiya Janata Party, it will be a battle to remain relevant in the city’s governance system, especially after its defeat in the 2020 assembly elections; for Aam Aadmi Party, it will be a statement on its performance (especially during Covid) in its third term in office; for Congress, it will be all about regaining lost ground in the city that it ruled for 15 straight years until 2013.

Hoping for a fourth term in the corporations, BJP is eyeing the support of slum clusters, which are considered an AAP stronghold. The party’s Jhuggi Samman Yatra, a 45-day outreach campaign, which started from October 15 and is focused on highlighting the Centre’s “pro-poor schemes” and the Delhi government’s “failures”, has sparked off a political tussle with AAP and Congress dubbing it an “eyewash” and “farce”.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said that they have got tremendous response from residents during the yatras. “The success of our campaign has rattled both AAP and Congress. Both parties, for years, treated slum residents as a vote bank, but did nothing for their welfare,” said Gupta.

He said that slum residents are the ‘Dil (heart) of Delhi’ as they are involved at the grassroots level in running the city, especially during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. “But they were the worst affected during the pandemic, as the state government did nothing for them and stalled the Centre’s pro-poor schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, affordable rental housing scheme, etc. The ration scheme got delayed. The government completely mismanaged the Covid situation. While they paralysed the functioning of civic agencies by stalling funds, the worst part is that the government did nothing to improve the living conditions of people in slum clusters despite having funds,” Gupta said.

The BJP, which has covered over 60 slum clusters so far as part of its campaign, plans to start ‘NaMo jhuggi seva kendras’ in the next few days to help people in availing benefits under various central government schemes.

But AAP and Congress leaders say these are nothing but an attempt to cover for its failure in delivering better civic services despite being in power for 15 years.

The Congress is planning a ‘Pol Khol Yatra’ from October 25 to expose BJP and AAP, while the AAP held an outreach programme ‘Aapka MLA, Aapke Dwar’ in September in which the party claimed to have held 3,000 public meetings to get people’s feedback and discuss the functioning of the municipal corporations.

Congress leaders say that both the ruling parties have failed miserably in delivering essential services, especially during the pandemic.

“A lot of people lost jobs during the pandemic. In Uttarakhand, (Delhi chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal has promised to pay a monthly stipend of ₹5,000 to the unemployed youth if AAP is elected. There are 13 lakh people registered with the Delhi government’s job portal. Why doesn’t the government give the same amount to people in Delhi? Similarly, the BJP has completely mismanaged the functioning of municipal corporations, making it difficult for common people to access essential services. We will expose both the parties in our pol khol yatras,” said Delhi Congress chief Chaudhary Anil Kumar.

AAP shot back. Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, who oversees municipal affairs in the party, said, “BJP and Congress have governments in various states. I give them an open challenge for a debate on which government did the maximum work during Covid. From providing rations to giving ₹5,000 compensation to ensure the best treatment to people, no one has done the kind of work the Kejriwal government has done during Covid.”

Referring to BJP’s campaign in the slum clusters, Pathak added, “In the past 15 years, there has been so much corruption in the BJP-led corporations. There is no residential colony left in the city where their councillors have not taken money for allowing construction work. Frankly, the BJP can now only go to slum clusters to get support. But they will not get it as most slums are on DDA land and in the past few years, the land-owning agency has evicted many people. Moreover, they have not done a single thing for the welfare of slum dwellers despite being in power in the corporations for so long.”

About 1.7 million people live in 675 slums and JJ (jhuggi-jhopri) clusters in Delhi, as per the Delhi Economic Survey-2020-21. While slums are scattered around the city, there are over 33 assembly constituencies and over 100 municipal wards with a high concentration of slums that are a significant vote bank.

The BJP has been trying to get the support of the slum dwellers, who once supported Congress and later moved to AAP. Months before the 2017 municipal elections, the then Delhi BJP chief and Northeast Delhi MP, Manoj Tiwari, had started ‘Ratri Pravas’ (night stay) at slums in a bid to connect the party (which has upper and middle classes as its traditional voters) with the urban poor and migrants. The move had played a crucial role in BJP winning a third term in the civic bodies and improving its previous tally of 138 to 181.

But in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections, AAP returned to power with 62 seats, riding high on its focus on education, healthcare and free electricity and water.

The Congress hasn’t given up. “We might have lost the last assembly elections, but we are working hard on the ground. The increase in our vote share during the municipal bypolls earlier this year is an indication that people want Congress back as they acknowledge the work done by us when we were in power,” the Delhi Congress chief said.

Political analyst Tanvir Aeijaz, who teaches political science at Ramjas College, said civic elections are fought on local issues that influence the outcome. “While all the welfare schemes such as free electricity, water, good education in schools have got the support of the people, it is also the work done by them during the pandemic, such as providing ration, etc, that is likely to help them in municipal elections. BJP, which has 15-years of anti-incumbency, will have to work hard to retain its upper and middle-class vote bank,” Aeijaz said.