‘If you want development, only Modi ji’s double engine can ensure it’: BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri sounds poll bugle in Kalkaji

Inside the narrow lane, dug up at every second step, people donning saffron caps are seated on white chairs, eagerly waiting for the former MP to address the gathering. In the background is a poster of him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Once the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants pipe down, he begins. “I was a three-time MP,” he says. “When people choose you again and again, it’s because they can see your character. If you want a viksit (developed) Govindpuri… Only Modi ji’s double engine can ensure it. Wherever we have a double-engine government, people are electing us again and again.”

Bidhuri then changes tack to take on his opponent from the AAP, sitting MLA and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi.
“Atishi should tell people where she has built roads and hospitals in the area. Instead, she keeps doing press conferences… For four years, (AAP chief Arvind) Kejriwal focused on making his bungalow and getting expensive cars, while the people of Delhi suffered… without clean water and proper roads. How will we become a superpower if our Capital is like this?” he asks.

He then addressed allegations by the Chief Minister that his men harassed AAP workers. “She shared a video, saying ‘mere karyakarta ched rahe hai hai AAP ke logon ko (My workers are harassing AAP’s people)’. I demanded the police carry out an investigation.” The BJP leader then heads to the nearby market, where an antiques shop wrestles for space with a grocery store next door.

Kishan Garg (47), a belt and lock shop owner, says he is considering supporting Bidhuri this time. “I’ve lived here for 20 years… and I have been an AAP supporter, but there hasn’t been much change. They came and dug up the roads in this gali to construct a sewer line. After that, they dug it up again saying a water line needed to be laid… then again for the gas line. The whole year, the road remains like this -— always under construction. Why can’t they do it in one go?” he fumes.

Tarun Kumar, a resident of the nearby Gali No. 4 for 24 years, says there have been some improvements in the last four years. “The sewers in our gali were upgraded… The roads have also been laid. However, this time, the BJP is more visible on the ground, especially in areas other than Govindpuri. My wife doesn’t like him (Bidhuri) because of some of his comments… I still haven’t made up my mind,” says the 45-year-old who works in a private firm.
Only 400 metres away, in the affluent S block locality of Kalkaji, however, voters seem willing to try out the BJP’s ‘double engine’ idea.

“Most governments do more or less the same work. But for the last two years, problems related to open sewers and hygiene have increased. Maybe it’s time to see if having a one-party government at both the Centre and State will help,” says V K Khattar, 61, a retired bank official who has been living in the colony for the past 40 years.
Back on the campaign trail, Bidhuri heads to Sarvodaya Camp which is home to daily-wage labourers, gig workers, and house help — an electorate that AAP has wooed with its welfare schemes.

Pitting his party’s welfare schemes tailored to the poor against the AAP’s ‘revris (freebies)’ that are for everyone, Bidhuri says, “In our Sankalp Patra (manifesto), Modi ji says that every auto driver will get Rs 10 lakh insurance. Today, Modi was talking to booth adhyakshs (chiefs). He told them even e-rickshaw drivers will get Rs 10 lakh insurance. This is not revri. This is for people who actually need it.”

Stressing that all the current schemes introduced by the AAP government will continue, he spoke of more schemes for women that the party plans to introduce.

“Women in families earning less than Rs 25,000 a month will get Rs 10,000 in their Jan Dhan bank accounts by March 10 if we win. We will also bring in schemes for women from poor families where they will get a Rs 2.5 lakh discount on the price of a house if it’s bought in their name. Our sisters will become homeowners.” “If Modi ji has your support, we will also bring in a law on population control,” he adds.

But for Raju, a 34-year-old worker with an electricity company, AAP’s freebies are a big attraction. “If BJP continues all those schemes, people won’t mind voting for them. In the Lok Sabha polls, most of us do,” he says.
When The Indian Express asked Bidhuri about Atishi’s statement that she would vote for BJP if he could prove he did any work in the constituency, he said, “The community centre in Kalkaji was built under my tenure, a senior citizen home and dispensary in East of Kailash as well. Now will she vote for BJP since I did all these things? I challenge her to list anything she has done as an MLA”.

On being asked about allegations of a deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi, especially in Govindpuri where a police constable was murdered recently, he lays the blame squarely on the AAP.

“How many meetings have you (Atishi) held with DCPs as Chief Minister? Won’t they listen if you summon them and ask them to control the supply of drugs in Delhi? You are in power in the state. Meeting SHOs and DCPs and taking stock of the situation is your responsibility as well. If they don’t listen to you, then hold a press conference and say that this DCP or officer is not following instructions. They are showing Delhi as a ‘crime capital’ to blame the Centre for everything,” he says.