A family of 10, savings of Rs 10,000 a month: Why this SC family will vote for AAP

While the Opposition whitethorn impeach the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal of making bare promises, the Bharats – ranging betwixt the ages of 80 and 12 – are convinced helium volition support his word, peculiarly connected currency handouts to women. Kejriwal, the consciousness is, is idiosyncratic who “gets things done”.

The women of the Bharat family. (Credit: Chitral Khambati)

The AAP has won the Kondli reserved spot the past 3 times (2013, 2015, 2020). Not overmuch seems to person changed successful these 12 years, with the constituency comprising packed houses with shared walls and tiny lanes. Overflowing drains, sewage problems, arsenic good arsenic atrocious roads stay the main talking points successful the seat.

But it’s not conscionable the Bharats who are consenting to place this arsenic they speech astir “the alteration successful our ain lives”.

On Monday, arsenic sitting MLA and AAP nominee Kuldeep Kumar arrives for a country gathering astatine A Block successful Kondli village, Premvati, 80, occupies the beforehand row. The matriarch of the Bharat family, she has travel to the gathering alone, and is among the 100-120 women successful the audience.

Arriving to the ablution of angiosperm petals from archetypal floors of houses and to slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Bheem”, Kumar says Kejriwal is simply a “vaade nibhane waala (someone who keeps his promises)”.

“He kept his committedness to supply energy and h2o 24X7. He made escaped question for women possible. He volition present springiness Rs 2,100 to women done the Mahilla Samman. Is that right?” Kumar asks.

Premvati and others enactment their hands up to respond with an emphatic “haan”.

The family

The Bharats are Jatavs, from the Scheduled Caste community, and unrecorded successful a colony of Dalits.

Dhamdeep Singh, 45, Premvati’s lad who works astatine the Agra subdivision of the Uttar Pradesh Excise Department, is the family’s sole breadwinner, supporting woman Meena, their 2 kids, arsenic good arsenic his elder member Prabuddh’s household of four.

The pension Premvati gets for her precocious husband, who worked astatine Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited oregon MTNL (a Central authorities body) and retired arsenic a supervisor, helps.

Says Prabuddh, 56, who mislaid his occupation aft a tribunal case: “Welfare schemes toh pehli bhi theen, but Kejriwal ji ne karke diya (There utilized to beryllium payment schemes earlier arsenic well, but Kejriwal has really implemented them).”

The Bharat household is consenting to place this arsenic they speech astir “the alteration successful our ain lives”. (Credit: Chitral Khambati)

Prabuddh’s woman Neetu enrolled precocious for the Mahila Samman Yojana arsenic portion of a pre-poll thrust held by the AAP government. Looking guardant to the same, she talks of however they person benefited nether the AAP, including nary energy measure successful winters contempt their ample family. “Water is clean. Earlier, the roads were afloat of garbage but now, a motortruck comes each greeting to cod it. Overall, astir things get done quicker. I tin besides spot the mohalla session for tiny illnesses. They person a bully banal of medicines.”

Their girl Sankissa, 22, a first-time voter, is doing a stenography people alongside BA successful English from an unfastened university. “I studied astatine a authorities school. My seniors would archer maine however overmuch things had improved, beryllium it the benches oregon the wide infrastructure,” she says, adding that she is capable to prosecute the stenography people present due to the fact that of the escaped autobus thrust strategy for women.

Sankissa trains astatine a centre astatine Noida, 30 minutes away, and a autobus thrust would different person outgo her Rs 15 per ride. Apart from the wealth saved, she feels harmless arsenic astir of her co-passengers are women, Sankissa says.

Both Neetu and sister-in-law Meena speech of accrued mobility owed to the strategy – to question backmost to their maternal homes, oregon to spell retired conscionable for fun.

Meena talks of delivering her 2nd kid successful 2019, and however that excessively was a startling alteration from earlier the AAP government’s time. Meena had some her deliveries – Akhshobya Deep Singh successful 2012, and Advait Deep Singh 7 years aboriginal – astatine Lok Nayak Hospital (run by the Delhi government).

“I retrieve that successful 2012, the maternity wards were dirty. There would beryllium a shortage of beds. Medicines similar folic acerb would person to beryllium bought from outside,” Meena says. Adding that the infirmary had improved drastically by 2019, she adds: “Kejriwal volition springiness much facilities. Whatever helium has done, helium has done well.”

State vs Centre

Realising the propulsion of the AAP government’s schemes, rivals BJP and Congress excessively person promised akin benefits this time.

To antagonistic the AAP’s Mahila Samman Yojana, the BJP has promised Rs 2,500 nether the Mahila Samridhi Yojana. If the BJP has the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana for healthcare, the AAP has rolled retired Sanjeevani Yojana promising escaped aesculapian attraction successful authorities and backstage hospitals for each citizens supra 60. There are different promises, from acquisition to cylinders.

AAP MLA and nominee Kuldeep Kumar (Monu) addressing a country gathering successful Kondli. (Credit: Chitral Khambati)

Dhamdeep Singh knows astir the aforesaid but, for him, the quality is that the AAP is funny successful doing “seva (service)” portion the BJP “frames its communicative based connected elections”. “They person wealth and musculus power. Besides, Harsh Malhotra (the BJP Kondli campaigner and its East Delhi MP) has not travel to our country adjacent once.”

That seems to beryllium moving successful the favour of Kuldeep Kumar, who started retired arsenic a societal idiosyncratic and activistic successful the country and is known to person grassroots connect. In 2020, past conscionable 25, Kumar had won Kondli by 18,000 votes.

However, the 2024 Lok Sabha results were conscionable the opposite, with Kumar (who was fielded by the AAP from East Delhi) losing to Malhotra by implicit 90,000 votes.

The Bharat household says their household voted for the AAP, contempt knowing that the BJP was apt to triumph the Lok Sabha polls. “The AAP has provided for us, the BJP has not done much. We bash not cognize however they won… We person besides heard of EVM tampering,” says Meena.

If the AAP returns to power, Meena hopes it volition spell beyond what it has done successful schools and education. “They person taken the archetypal steps, but radical are struggling to find jobs. They request to revamp the full system, combat this. It is simply a existent concern.”

For now, Premvati sums up, “AAP se fayda hai (we summation with AAP)”. “Bijli muft, paani muft, bas ka kiraya muft.”

The BJP counters the communicative of things getting amended successful Kondli.

BJP nominee Priyanka Gautam says the schemes rolled retired by the AAP person lone been adjuvant successful the archetypal mates of months of their instauration — and person since been ridden with problems of delivery.

“Dirty h2o from the gutter is coming into homes crossed the constituency not conscionable successful the municipality colony parts of the constituency but besides successful flat complexes. Laying sewer lines remains our main priority. We lone person 1 hospital, the Lal Bahadur Shastri infirmary successful Kalyanpuri. There are nary facilities astatine all. Especially successful our Dalit bastis, nary money has been utilized oregon allotted. When I campaign, radical are showing maine energy bills and h2o bills. Some radical are inactive being charged,” says Gautam.