From paav-bhaji pan to poll fire,Gurgaon man tries his hand at it all

Next came Destination Gurgaon,and he has been here for the last 12 years,living with his wife and three children in a rented one-room flat at Kirti Nagar. He makes a living by selling paav-bhaji. Of course.

So what is a man like him doing in the rough and tumble of Indian politics? Having dropped out of school as a teen after his mother’s health deteriorated,Bhagat is anxious that his children get good education — “all the way.” And that,he says,made him get into the poll fray. “It was tough for a poor man like me to get his children admitted in schools without donations,” he says. “Then,one day,my son’s school asked me to cough up Rs 20,000 at one go. That’s when I felt that a man like me will have to enter the system to change the system.”

About the general notion that Independent candidates like him are little more than spoilsports in almost all cases,Bhagat says,“Even if I do not win,I will at least get noticed — I am confident that I have set the ball rolling.”

So what are his promises? “If elected,I would pitch for a better and more transparent education system. Since I understand the hardships of running a family,I am sure I will succeed in striking a tune with the common man.”

And would he get funds for canvassing? There’s a plan up his sleeve: “All I need is an open jeep and a few banners. I will go around the city and tell people to choose the right leader for them. It will cost me Rs 2,000 a day to campaign for these 15 days.”

For now,he is waiting for the poll symbol,and once armed with it,he will have to stop putting up his stall and get down to serious business of campaigning.

He has already won support from fellow traders in the market. Pravin,who owns a photo studio in the market,says,“I will help him by making a video film free of cost. He has not only helped us get proper streetlighting but also got the road repaired. I will also close my shop for the days he is out campaigning and help him out.”