Batla House has ‘no choice’ but to vote

The Batla House encounter did not wield enough influence to dictate the voting patterns of the area and Jamia Nagar on Thursday, reports Ritika Chopra.

The Batla House encounter did not wield enough influence to dictate the voting patterns of the area and Jamia Nagar on Thursday.

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The anti-incumbency mood was conspicuous by its absence even though the authenticity of the L-18 encounter still remains questionable for most residents here. So could this mean that the people have finally moved on?

No, say the residents. Intriguingly, the anti-incumbency mood is missing for the lack of a better option. “Do I really have a better choice? My community needs to support a party that is secular in nature. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that the BJP clearly doesn’t belong to that category,” said Dost Mohammad (40), a resident of Batla House.

But protection of Muslim interests wasn’t the only agenda here. The residents had a lot more on their minds while casting their vote — better education and better job opportunities, especially. “If the Muslim identity was all that I was bothered about, then I should have voted for the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, who is also a Muslim. But his criminal record acts as a repellent,” said M.D. Heshamuddin, a lecturer.