In Chandni Chowk, will Sibal's 'secret weapon' push him past BJP, AAP?

New Delhi: The polls might be spelling a drubbing for the Congress, but union minister Kapil Sibal is campaigning in Chandni Chowk like it’s raining roses.

In fact it is. As Sibal’s truck moves, or rather crawls through the congested shop-lined streets of Sadar Bazar, it pauses every now and then for a garland stop. There’s a little raised podium where a bunch of Congress workers wait with heavy garlands – marigold and tuberose.

Firecrackers explode sending sparks into the air. And the air becomes thick with showers of rose petals and rose buds, erupting at the candidate and the crowd almost like a fusillade from a firing squad. Sibal smiles gamely and waves to women standing on balconies and bends down to accept yet another garland, his white hair already spattered with rose petals.

After the cavalcade passes volunteers bring out ladoos that disappear in seconds.A lady with a Congress scarf comes up to the laddoo table too late. The man handing them out gives her a garland instead. “Flowers instead of laddoos, amma,” he says. She angrily rejects the offer.

The drummers beat a frenzied rhythm. Women throw more flowers at Sibal. Congress volunteers push his car along. At one point they switch to the more photogenic carriage drawn by two white horses giving the entire operation a royal touch. But the horses whinny and rear, spooked by the exploding fireworks. Sibal lurches forward, looking rather alarmed, and is quickly ushered back into his less nervous non-living vehicle. The man managing the horses grumbles saying it’s not his horses’ fault. A bunch of supporters ride along on it laughing gaily like tourists on a jaunt.

Right before the procession got rolling, there was a moment’s panic. The skies darkened. Fat drops of rain started falling. But the storm was just a blip and it passed. An overwhelmed supporter gushed that it’s a sign from the gods that nothing can get in the way of Sibal’s victory.

“He will come through,” says Anup Kumar watching the procession pass. “But this is between him and (the BJP’s) Harsh Vardhan. That Ashutosh (AAP) cannot do anything. Ashutosh is not from a rich family you see. He is like the mosquito.”

But Ramesh Chand who has a garment shop along the route disagrees. “There is a BJP wind here. Even the Congress knows it. Sibal-saab has a good reputation but this is BJP’s time. Harsh Vardhan is also an educated man. But more than that he will win because of Narendra Modi.”

Mohammad Adil Qureishi counters however that if there is a BJP-hawa there is also an anti-Modi wave. “The Congress is getting the benefit of that for free. Muslims won’t vote for Modi. If it had been Sushma Swaraj they might have thought twice.”

Kapil Sibal’s problems are the usual ones that affect a long time incumbent. People are not that bothered about what he has done or not done for the area but some think it’s just time for new blood. Neta Miraj, a white-bearded man, says he is a loyal Congress sipahi but he admits Sibal has not been seen here that much.

“Why should he come? He is a big man. A minister. But we are his soldiers. We will make him win,” he says confidently. Satish Rastogi who was helping hand out the sweets is not so sure. “This is a big constituency. He might win from here but who knows about Azad Market for instance,” he says. He says he welcomes everyone who comes looking for votes. Harsh Vardhan had already come by that morning. “I welcome whoever comes to our door,” says Rastogi.

If Sibal is rattled about his future, he is putting up a brave front, smiling, waving, bearing the brunt of one more loyalist handing out one more garland. When I ask him over the din of the drummers if this has been his toughest election he shrugs.

“It’s a campaign that expresses people’s love and enthusiasm. What the party stands for and what I stand for,” he says rather grandly, gesturing at the dancing crowds.

But the polls have been bleak for his party. Sibal shakes his head.

“The situation on the ground is different from the situation in the air” he pronounces as cries of Kapil Sibal and mohar lagao haath-pe rend the air.

He has some reason to be optimistic though. Mohammad Adil Qureishi standing at his store in a narrow lane lined with tandoori chicken shops says Kapil Sibal has a secret weapon in this three-cornered race. The AAP candidate, he says is eating into the votes of BJP and Congress. AAP is the beneficiary of the anger of both sides, he says. But Sibal has one ace up his sleeve.

The Qureshi community who work in the meat plants in the area, slaughtering and preparing meat, are 100 percent committed to Kapil Sibal. He has been involved with their problems with the Ghazipur and Igdah slaughterhouse which have been the subject of litigation and court orders. And the Qureshis number at least 90,000. They don’t come out much, says Qureishi. “You won’t see them at any rally. It’s a hidden vote but a mazboot vote.”