In Northeast Delhi, 'Outsider' Kanhaiya Kumar Gives Call For 'Justice'

The road leading to 69-year-old Prema Devi’s two room rented tenement in Sonia Vihar of northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar area is checkered with deep potholes and open drains that she has to carefully sidestep every time she goes in and out. When it rains, road gets entirely submerged in knee deep water sewer water. “I work at three households as a domestic help and get paid Rs 1200 each. My house rent is Rs 3,000. Despite being a senior citizen, I don’t get any pension so I have to work” Prema rues, adding that once, she had slipped on the road and fractured her left ankle, rendering her jobless for months. She says that it becomes hard for her and her family including a son, a daughter in law and two grandchildren, to make ends meet by the end of most months. 

Prema is one of the over 1.5 crore voters in the national capital, eligible to vote on May 25 in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha 2024 elections and this time, she and many others in the socio-economically backward district of northeast Delhi want change. “This government has done nothing for poor people in the past ten years,” she insists. On May 16, Prema finished with work early and braved the sweltering heat to attend the Congress’ NE Delhi candidate, former student leader, Kanhaiya Kumar’s ‘nukkar sabha’. “I have never seen him but my son watches his videos on social media,” Prema informs. With seven Lok Sabha constituencies, Delhi is seeing a two-way battle this time with the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress fighting as allies under the INDIA alliance to beat the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party, which swept all seven seats in Delhi in 2014 and 2019. And all eyes are on Begusarai’s firebrand youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

Kumar kicked off his campaign with back to back public meetings in Gokulpuri and Mustafabad which drew massive crowds despite their late hour. The locations were symbolic for the leader, who has been calling his campaign “nyay samvad’ (a message for justice).  “This election is not an election of any individual or party, this election is the election of our existence, election to save constitution and democracy. We must fight it together,” he said.  But justice remains a loaded word in the area. This is the first election in the communally sensitive northeast Delhi which was consumed by sectarian violence in February 2020 that left over 50 people dead and hundreds displaced. A majority of the deceased were working class Muslims. “Many in the area feel that the violence was a reaction of us voting against BJP in 2020 Assembly Elections,” Mustafabad resident Mohd Saleem, who survived a mob attack in his neighbourhood in the 2020 violence. His brother was killed and burnt by a mob. 

Northeast Delhi presents a complex set of socio-politics, with a diverse and mostly working class population of which approximate 20.74 percent are Muslim, followed by Other Backward Classes (OBC) voters at 21.75 and Scheduled Caste (SC) voters who make up 16.3 percent. There are also Brahmins who make up 11.61 per cent of the voters, Vaishya (Bania) at 4.68 per cent, Punjabi at 4 per cent, Gurjar at 7.57 per cent. A majority of the residents are migrants from nearby states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana and live out of unauthorised colonies and slum clusters. Across the capital, slum clusters and sociopolitically backward belts form the core voter base of AAP, which emerged in 2012 out of a popular anti-corruption movement, mainly against the then ruling Congress.

Capitalising on the Modi wave, the party which traditionally had the support of Punjabi and Baniya voters in Delhi, grew from zero seats in 2011 to winning all seven seats in the capital in 2014. Manoj Tiwari, who won the Lok Sabha 2014 election from NE Delhi, seems to have been intrinsic in the party’s successful outreach among this Hindu, Purvanchali, migrant, working class population. In 2016, the Big Boss 4 candidate was made the Delhi BJP President following which the BJP recorded a substantial victory in the 2017 Municipality (MCD) elections. In 2019, BJP won all seven seats again, growing its vote share by a significant 10 percentage points. Tiwari was replaced as the unit chief in 2020 but the singer-actor remains popular in the Purvanchali migrant belt. In fact, he was the only sitting MP that the party has retained this year, dropping big names like Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan and celebrities like Gautam Gambhir in a seeming bid to fight anti-incumbency. 

Muslim voters remain significant in the region. In 2019, ahead of the BJP’s second landslide win, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had admitted that Muslim votes had edged away from the party. This time, with AAP and Congress fighting as allies, the INDIA alliance stands to benefit from the consolidation of Muslim voters (who are likely to vote against BJP in the backdrop of the 2020 communal violence and the party’s anti-minority stance as seen in recent campaign speeches) as well as anti-incumbency votes. The Congress has fielded candidates three seats with high Muslim voters - Northeast Delhi, Chandni Chowk and Northwest Delhi. 

But for many including voters as well as Congress’ cadres, Kanhaiya Kumar remains an “outsider”. “The party should have chosen someone who has worked in Delhi and understands the politics here. Kanhaiya is a good leader but he is an ‘outsider’,” a party karyakarta said at a meeting held in Yamuna Vihar ahead of polls to galvanise cadres in support of Kumar. Senior leader Sachin Pilot was also flown in from Rajasthan along with his teams to encourage Congress karyakartas to support Kumar. Addressing party workers, Pilot said, “It’s true that many people request for the ticket but only one person gets the ticket. The decision was taken following intensive scientific surveys and discussions with leaders, karyakartas and local people. This is a big district and we needed a candidate who was popular and able enough to take the party to victory. I am happy that Congress chose Kanhaiya Kumar”. 

Pilot added that the whole nation was watching Delhi. “I have travelled through eleven states and what I realised is that this election is not being fought on any wave. This election is being fought for change,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Kumar in his rallies and public addresses, has been focusing on civic issues like bijli, pani, sadak and has been campaigning relentlessly across the cobbled neighbourhoods of Mustafabad, Seelampur, Burarari, Karawal Nagar, Ghonda and others. “This boy wearing slippers has come to challenge Delhi's richest MP. He has come to ask, tell me what did he do in 10 years? Or will you ask for votes in the name of Prime Minister, not on your work this time too?” he said at one of his rallies.

In another speech, he fired, “Those who destroy people’s homes with bulldozers, those who smash dreams of youth by failing to provide employment, those who divide society in the name of religion, accuse me of being “tukde tukde” gang. I promise that with the support of northeast Delhi, I will fight the powers that are breaking homes, hopes and society”. 

A few days into the campaign, Kanhaiya faced the heat of rising rivalry on May 17 when the former CPI leader was assaulted by a group of men as he was stepping out of the AAP office in New Usmanpur after a party meeting with local Councillor Chhaya Sharma. The leader has also been facing the brunt of the assault controversy surrounding Swati Maliwal who accused Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Singh of assaulting her at the CM’s residence. The BJP has managed to mobilise the issue as a poll peg in slum clusters. Kumar has also faced a loss in support from sections of JNU-intelligentsia since his shift from left to the Congress following his 2019 defeat in Begusarai, a move that the leader has in the past dubbed a necessity to save the "burning village". Keen on not alienating Hindu voters with his volley of calls for justice, Kumar has also lauded his Hindu credentials. “Lord Shri Krishna was born in jail and I was put in jail. My name is Kanhaiya, I will fight dictatorship following the ideals of Lord Krishna. Standing with right and against wrong I will protect the religion I have received from Lord Krishna till my death,” he said at another rally.

With just days to the election, voters across Delhi are looking beyond identity politics and weighing their options based on the report cards of the candidates’ and parties’ performance. “Manoj Tiwari has not visited his constituency in the last ten years. He only comes during Chatt Puja to do a little song and dance program. The rest of the year, he remains missing,” says Karawal Nagar resident and grocery store owner Devender Kumar. “There is massive problem of clean water supply in this area, the main road leading connecting Sonia Vihar to other parts of Delhi is completely broken and gets waterlogged in the monsoons. Our children have to miss school for almost a month at the time,” Kumar adds. Senior citizens like Prema add that they don’t get pension, despite promises of Rs 15 lakh by the BJP.

In neighbourhoods like Mustafabad, Maujpur and others, elections bring back bad memories for people like Imrana Bibi and her eight daughters who were left orphaned on February 25 2020 when her husband Mudassir Khan was killed by a mob. She wants to know what the Congress will do for victims of communal violence like her if it wins. “I got Rs 10 lakh compensation but I had to share it with my in-laws. I have to raise eight daughters by myself,” she informs, adding that no arrests have yet been made in Mudassir’s murder investigation. 

A few kilometres from her house lives first-time voter Mohd Sameer, who was rendered paraplegic after a bullet his spine in the violence four years ago. An aspiring physiotherapist, Samir avidly follows content on social media on his smartphone. He is impressed by Rahul Gandhi’s promise of jobs and cash guarantees to youth. “I hope they consider helping me with my higher education so that I can become a doctor,” Samir states. His mother, who is the constant caretaker of the 20-year-old, remains less hopeful. “We have lived in Congress era as well. Economic conditions of lower middle class Muslims has not improved for decades,” she states. Many residents also fear that a bad result for the ruling party might mean further political violence or harassment for locals. "After all, the 2020 violence was also post-poll," Imrana adds.