BJP eats into a key AAP voter base
The slum clusters have been a strong AAP vote bank for the last 10 years, but the BJP was trying to make inroads in these regions through a sustained campaign over the past month.
A wave of mixed sentiments swept across several JJ (Jhuggi Jhopri), or slum, clusters spread across the national capital as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Delhi assembly elections on Saturday after an intense poll battle with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to return to power after 27 years.
The JJ clusters have been a strong AAP vote bank for the last 10 years, but the BJP was trying to make inroads in these regions through a sustained campaign over the past month.
Vimla Devi, 52, from Arjun camp in Mahipalpur, said, “I voted for Kejriwal so naturally I am a little upset. But the thing is I do not mind any party coming into power as long as they do something for the people, especially the poor in the city. Now that BJP is in power, let us see if they do any work and if they actually do, then we will vote for them next election.”
Others in the camp seemed to be more divided about BJP’s win -- some celebrated while others mourned the loss of the AAP.
Sunil Sharma, 57, described the change it is the “best thing to happen to Delhi” in the last 10 years. “We will now get health facilities in our old age, someone will take care of us,” he said, sipping his tea.
But his statement seemed to upset his friends sitting at the same stall.
Another person at the stall, Arjun, 65, interjected. “At least, the AAP cared about our children’s education. It is true that there is drinking water problem along with several other issues in our locality but what if BJP rule is worse? What if they care even lesser about people like us?”
Delhi has about 675 JJ clusters with around 1.5 million votes coming from these hamlets within the city. Several issues that have been a pivotal point for the residents of these clusters this election season include patchy water supply, unavailability of proper drainage, potholed roads, and inadequate health care facilities.
In Jangpura seat, where BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah won by a slim margin of 675 votes, was an AAP stronghold, where the party won by a margin of 16,063 votes in the previous elections.
Adarsh Nagar, which is also one of the biggest slum voter bases, where BJP candidate Raj Kumar Bhatia won by a margin of 11,482 votes, can be attributed to swinging of slum cluster votes.
Manpreet, a resident of Anna Nagar JJ cluster in ITO, said he had lost his home and belongings in 2020 due to heavy rain, and was rendered homeless, but got no help from the government.
“The AAP MLA (Praveen Kumar)didn’t even show his face, why should we have voted for them?” the 33-year-old daily wage worker said, adding that plots on which his home once stood have now been turned into a dump yard.
A group of women who were glued to their phones watching early poll trends in Janta camp, behind Pragati Maidan, said they all voted for a regime change.
Dharma Devi, 45, said her family has been getting polluted water since more than a year in the area and is forced to buy drinking water. “We spend ₹40-50 per can of water per day and sometimes we need two cans of water. This is an additional cost for us every month,” she said. Since she is a homemaker, free bus rides -- a flagship AAP scheme for women -- makes no difference for her, she said.
Women at Indira camp in Kalyan Puri, too, said they voted for change. “Governments come and governments go but we need to continue working hard to earn. So the change personally does not mean much for me,” said Parveena, 42, who works as a cook in a nearby hotel. “But I believe when one party is in power for too long, they become entitled.”