New Delhi: When BJP candidate Neetu Choudhary entered Sarita Vihar’s Pocket K on 13 November to campaign for the Delhi municipal polls, she was welcomed with garlands and the beat of drums. But as the Ward 187 contender did rounds of the apartment block, her entourage was too big to fit into the narrow staircases of the DDA flats.
A week later, her principal challenger Muskan Bidhuri of the Aam Aadmi Party did the same rounds. She had just one companion with her, and the duo apologetically rang doorbells to seek votes.
The contrasting styles of the two candidates in southeast Delhi are emblematic of the styles of their parties — BJP’s rolling out the big guns, while AAP is going hyperlocal with its personal outreach, nukkad nataks (street plays) and padayatras.
AAP’s talisman Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is campaigning in Gujarat for the assembly elections while in the national capital, his ministers are seeking votes for councillors in his name. The party’s war cry for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls is “Kejriwal Ki Sarkaar, Kejriwal Ka Paarshad” (Kejriwal’s government, Kejriwal’s councillor).
Meanwhile, among BJP chief ministers who have campaigned in Delhi are Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Jairam Thakur (Himachal), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand). During this last week of campaigning, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to hold two meetings in Delhi.
“The reason why BJP has to use chief ministers, Union ministers and even PM Narendra Modi’s image for MCD is that they cannot fight the election on the basis of work done since no work has been done by them in the last 15 years,” Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai told ThePrint.
Campaigning in Harkesh Nagar, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told a gathering last week not to ask about his party’s candidate in the ward but focus instead on the work done by the Delhi government under Kejriwal’s leadership.
Gopal Rai, too, told a gathering in Subhash Mohalla Monday not to fret about who the candidate is. The two ministers’ poll pitches in Kejriwal’s name echo BJP’s campaign pitch across the country that ‘a vote for the lotus is a vote directly for Narendra Modi’.
Also read: Mass contact, star campaigners — BJP ups the ante as internal evaluation shows MCD vote shortfall)
Unconventional methods
Up against the might of BJP, AAP candidates are banking on personal connect with voters. Meetings like Sisodia’s and Rai’s are punctuated by “decentralised” campaigns by individual candidates. Padayatras (foot marches), jan sabhas (public meetings) and door-to-door drives are AAP’s three primary modes.
Street plays, magic and guitar shows have been part of AAP’s overall poll strategy along with flash mobs that have been organised in different parts of the city by Dance For Democracy, their team specialised in holding such events. These efforts have been intensified in the second phase, which started on 23 November.
“All the people campaigning for us are part of our family and the larger community. We are trying to reach out to the people on a personal level so that there is trust. My husband Ashwani who has worked closely with MLA Satyendar Jain from Shakur Basti for the last 10 years has developed a lot of connections around the ward,” said Urmila Garg, the AAP candidate from Saraswati Vihar.
Often the candidates showcase the state government rather than themselves. AAP candidate from Rohini-C ward Anil Mittal said: “People have seen the kind of work done under Kejriwal’s sarkar (government) and the laxity with which their (BJP’s) councillor has treated the ward. They will vote for us based on our record in the Delhi government. The public is the real candidate, they will endorse our party in the polls.”
All in the family
Door-to-door campaigning for the AAP is being done by candidates and their families, friends and relatives or the “unpaid volunteers”.
Urmila’s children have taken charge of media and publicity, while her women relatives of all ages go out in teams of 8-10 people to different colonies in the ward to appeal to the voters. Similar is the situation at AAP candidate Amrit Lal Jain’s house in Budh Vihar, where a group of women relatives and neighbours were sent out for rallies to reach out to voters. His ground floor had turned into something like a marriage hall.
E-rickshaws studded with AAP flags and the face of the party’s candidates move around all the wards blasting their theme song “MCD mein bhi Kejriwal” (Kejriwal in MCD as well). In Budh Vihar, the rickshaws played Bollywood songs with jhadoo (broom) as hero. In Saraswati Vihar, “Kaam Karenge, Kaam Karenge, Jan-Jan ka Samman Karenge“, another homegrown melody, took center stage.
According to Urmila’s children Mudit and Karan, old tactics like distribution of liquor can’t be successful anymore. “Public work is based on the results of work done by the candidate,” Mudit said when asked about being pitted against a party like the BJP which has no dearth of resources or leaders.
To drive home the message, they use nukkad nataks, magic shows in the weekly vegetable markets, local grocery stores, parks and any other place of social gatherings.
Amrit Jain, despite his old age, resorted to another unconventional method. He rode a motorcycle through the ward, folding his hands and seeking blessings for the election as he met people on the road.
“Even before my nomination, I have been engaged in social work, where I organised free eye camps and Aadhaar-making camps. Stickers, beatings of drums and our volunteers wielding brooms might give us outward visibility, but it is the promise to work in the future for the people that will get us elected,” he said.
‘Double engine’ pitch
AAP candidate Rekha Tyagi who is also the Subhash Mohalla councillor, claimed that she was given no funds for roads and drainage.
“Modi’s double engine government might not have worked, but AAP’s will,” said AAP’s senior leader Shahnaz Hindustani at a ‘Jansamvad’ supporting Tyagi. MLA Atishi had taken the same line a few days ago when she told mediapersons that in states like Madhya Pradesh, the BJP’s “double-engine government is a failure”.
“Action can only be taken when there is political will…Centre has tried to take power from us and in spite of that Arvind Kejriwal has delivered,” she said.
(Edited by V S Chandrasekar)
Also read: Flash mobs, rock concerts & the headliner, Modi — PM’s policies focus of BJP’s MCD campaign