Political parties might be busy wooing the youth during the elections, but some of the eldest voters in the city are equally eager to exercise their franchise. And their reasons to choose a particular party to vote for or against vary from performance of the local legislator to the loyalty factor nurtured over several decades.
Ninety-seven-year-old Gheesa Ram, a resident of Mandir Marg jhuggi, is a hardcore Congress loyalist. He says he has always voted for the party whether it wins or loses.
“I have seen all the leaders of the Congress – Dr. Zakir Hussain to Jawaharlal Nehru. Lala Lajpat Rai used to make speeches right here (directing towards Central Park). I had sat on hunger strike with Mahatma Gandhi and eaten with him when he stayed with us at Harijan Basti. My father was a class IV employee in the New Delhi Municipal Council. After his death, I joined the horticulture department as a gardener and then as a peon in the NDMC’s Health Department,” he says.
“All my life, the Congress government has given me a quarter to live and taken care of our jhuggi. So whether it wins or loses, my vote will go to the Congress,” adds the father of 10 children.
Similarly, Arjan Kumar Dadlani, 92, who lives with his family at Inderpuri, is happy that a “strong and able BJP candidate is contesting for the CM post this time and is likely to win”.
A former employee of the Indian Military Academy, he was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in his student days. Mr. Dadlani says, “I am happy that the BJP has fielded a strong candidate for the CM post. The Congress has been playing on minority sentiments, by giving them small grants here and there. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is honest but a confused leader. Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the slogan of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash among all the political parties. So my vote will go to the BJP.”
But, for 75-year-old Kashmiri Lal Dhingra, a resident of Kalkaji, who unsuccessfully contested in 2007 MCD elections, the work done by the candidates in the area will determine whom he votes for during the Assembly elections.
“For 15 years, the BJP has been losing in Delhi not because it is a non-secular party, but because it has been a victim of the Congress’ ‘divide and rule’ policy. Last time, the BJP lost in this area from the AAP by a small margin. Avtar Singh Kalkaji from the AAP and Harmeet Singh Kalkaji from the BJP are contesting. Harmeet in just one-and-a-half months has done tremendous job in the area – from getting several toilets made in jhuggis to cleaning the area. I am not against any party but the one who works, wins,” he says.
However, 82-year-old driver Jamal Khan (name changed on request) from Trilokpuri says the residents of the entire area want to vote for the AAP this time, largely due to the communal violence witnessed in the area last year.
“If Mr. Kejriwal was separated from Anna Hazare, he floated his own party and did not join the Congress or the BJP. But Kiran Bedi got her bread and butter during the Congress regime by badmouthing the BJP. But now she joined the BJP and is badmouthing the AAP. Her loyalty is questionable. But, Mr. Kejriwal is the poor masses’ leader. He fought for us and left the chair for us; so we want him back,” he adds.
For 15 years, the BJP has been losing in Delhi not because it is a non-secular party, but because it has been a victim of the Congress’ ‘divide and rule’ policy
Kashmiri Lal DhingraResident of Kalkaji
