This Haryana village is not voting for a candidate, but to save democracy

As one walks further into the village, an elderly man is fixing a Congress flag to a pole and in some distance, several other villagers are awaiting Brahamchari’s arrival.

A little away, a room full of elderlies are discussing the state of affairs. “Delhi main kya mahaul hai, (what is the mood in Delhi),” asks an elderly man lying on his charpai. “Kaun jeet raha hai (who is winning),” asks another, followed by satirical remarks on the state of media by other men present in the room.

Among them is 24-year-old Gurmeet Singh, who excitedly shows a video of how he and his group of friends objected when a vehicle fitted with loudspeakers and decorated with BJP posters was campaigning in the village. “Farmers and villagers are very angry with the BJP,” he says, adding that he too was beaten up and was even shot by pellet guns when he joined the farmers’ protest.

“This time, the village people are not voting for any candidate. They want to save the democracy and Constitution. The democracy, under this government, is dead as if one protests, he is injured,” he adds.

The 24-year-old, who is currently preparing for GMAT, adds that the youths are stressed as there are no jobs. “One reason to play sports in Haryana was to get jobs in the Army, but now that too has changed,” he says, adding that in the coming years, Haryana will produce way less sportspersons. “See how the BJP government manhandled women wrestlers and use agencies such as the ED. This is not governance, but dictatorship,” he says, adding, ““Kisaanon ki dhoti khol ke pagdi pehni hai inhone (They undressed farmers to make their turbans).”

Shyamlal (39), who comes from a Dalit household, lost one of his legs in an accident some years ago and despite the prosthesis, he has to take support of a cane to walk. From unfair prices in mandis to unavailability of resources, he too has several grievances against the BJP government,

“Before 2014, BPL families used to get 100 yards of land free for constructing a house. And such families whose houses were kaccha or in a poor state were also provided grant from Rs 80,000 up to Rs 1.5 lakh to get the house repaired,” Shyamlal says. His cousins and friends have got their houses made via this scheme. However, when it was Shyamlal’s time to avail the scheme, it no longer existed in Mahmudpur.

“The government says everything is digital now, but no work is done without unnecessary favours to officials,” he says.

Gurmeet’s mother Sudesh (52) manages the house, which includes looking after the buffaloes too. “This central government has done nothing for the women of this village. The biggest issue is education. Girls have to go outside this village to study. Buses of Haryana Roadways also do not operate here. Girls students do not even get good coaching here,” she says, adding that there should be a clinic here where women-related diseases are diagnosed and treated.

She also said that elderly women enter into various superstitions as the village lacks awareness.

“Women here also don’t have economic independence. Earlier, we used to earn by selling buffalo milk, but now because of social media, such activities are looked down upon. Women in villages are also dependent on their husbands. The government should bring in some scheme where we can earn for ourselves,” she says.

As the crowd finally starts swelling for Brahamchari’s rally, Gurmeets adds that the people here are not ardent Congress supporters. “But we have no hopes from the BJP. Most of the people here don’t even know Brahamchari much but the overall working of the BJP has irked them all,” he says.