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Journalism of Courage
Candidates and their supporters have been going door to door in the Matia Mahal constituency in Chandni Chowk, but there is one neighbourhood where no one, not even the three main parties — AAP, BJP or Congress — has come to seek votes.
This is Swami Shradhanand Marg, also known as Garstin Bastion or GB Road, Delhi’s biggest red light area. During the day, the street, running from Ajmeri Gate to Lahori Gate near New Delhi railway station and lined with rows of old rundown buildings, is a busy motor parts market bustling with traffic and people ferrying their luggage and cargo. After the sun goes down, when the shopkeepers down their shutters, hundreds of sex workers emerge from their tiny rooms to meet their customers.
What do they think about the February 5 polls? One of the women says elections don’t mean much to them. “Governments come and go… political parties change… Our lives remain stagnant… Everybody knows we exist. But for them… we’re always invisible…”
She says there are approximately 1,200 votes of sex workers. “Nobody has come to campaign here. They (people campaigning) pass by almost every day, but they don’t want to stop here. They don’t want to see the way we are living.”
Inside one of the buildings, two women are busy prepping lunch — one of them is shelling peas while the other is chopping garlic and onions. A third woman is washing her clothes. They are in their early 40s.
When asked what they expect from the government, one of them says, “My daughters, aged 26 and 22, are reaching an age wherein I need to get them married. I can’t keep on doing this but what is the rehabilitation process? Has the government ever thought if they want to give us a better life?” The woman, who hails from Dadar in Mumbai, was brought to GB Road by her husband who sold her and left.
Outside the lane from kotha number 52 to 59 sits a woman who came from West Bengal. She has two sons and a daughter. While her daughter lives in the village along with her grandmother, the sons stay at a paying guest accommodation close to Kalkaji.
She says, “We get water and electricity supply owing to the government, but everyone needs a life after this… everyone knows what happens here, it’s no secret, then why not recognise us?”
Most workers The Indian Express spoke to said they vote for AAP, others said they follow the footsteps of their families and vote for BJP and Congress.
A woman, who hails from Nepal and has been working for over 15 years, says she was married to a man in Rajasthan and has four children. “Politicians pass by but never ask us about our problems…,” she fumes.
Sitting MLA, AAP’s Shoaib Iqbal, who has won the seat six times beginning in 1993, admits to The Indian Express that he’s never gone there “but we do send our volunteers to tell them which button to press and vote.”
His son, Aaley Iqbal, is contesting this year.
Shoaib adds that his worry was also how the opposition would paint him if he went there or took pictures and used them against him. “I want to and will definitely do something for their rehabilitation.”
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