Celebrating birthdays, visit to a slum: How Congress old hand JP Agarwal is campaigning in Chandni Chowk

During each such visit, Agarwal handed out pamphlets of the 898 questions — from crumbling school buildings, modernising police forces, the sewer system in Delhi — he has asked during his multiple parliamentary tenures. “… as an MP, I never hesitated to hold ministers accountable — even if they’re from my own party… I cannot say the same about the BJP’s seven sitting MPs,” he said.

The 79-year-old is the oldest to be fielded in the Capital by a mainstream party. He has fought parliamentary elections 10 times and was elected to the 8th, 9th, 11th, and 15th Lok Sabha. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha between 2006 and 2009. In 2009, he contested the Lok Sabha election from Northeast Delhi and won. He contested from the same seat in 2014, but lost this time to BJP’s Manoj Tiwari. In the 2019 elections, he contested from Chandni Chowk and lost to BJP’s Dr Harsh Vardhan. This time, he is up against BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal.

On the field

Agarwal asserted that a leader needs to represent themself as people’s “dukh-dard ka saathi,” and he does just that. Earlier this week, he went to Amba Bagh in Kishan Ganj to celebrate the birthday of 11-year-old Paras Sharma. Later that evening, he went to the home of a Congress worker, Rajiv Sharma, in Dr Bengali Gali to cut a birthday cake.

On Monday, Agarwal went to Shakur Basti after a fire destroyed 36 shanties.

One of the residents, Lakshmi, told him, “The only things I have left are the clothes I’m wearing right now. Not only have my possessions been destroyed, but also my identity — my Aadhaar card and the school records of my three children are burned.” Pooja, a third-year student at Delhi University’s Keshav Mahavidyala, said she wanted to pursue a Master’s degree in History. “I used to work as a part-time seamstress to collect money for the MA admissions.”

Listening to their complaints, Agarwal said: “Mere taraf se poori vyavastha ho jayegi, koshish karenge ki tumhara ghar jaisa bana tha waisa hi banwa dein.”

On Wednesday, he visited former MCD councillor Tarun Kumar’s home where several party members had gathered on a tiny, poorly lit terrace. Climbing three flights of stairs, pausing intermittently to catch his breath, the leader expressed his gratitude to the gathering and said: “During the Congress government, we used to stand with people in need… we never raised a stick against those who were protesting. There was no long-standing tension between different religious sections.”

“It is important to have compassion in one’s heart but I do not think even a single tear came to BJP politicians’ eyes when farmers sat on strike, no one raised a voice for them in the Parliament. The BJP MP has been representing this constituency for 10 years now, has he ever visited this locality? When entire families were being wiped out during the Covid pandemic, did they give you a single call?” he questioned.

At the forefront of his campaign are those who have worked with him for decades. “Whether anything big… or small happens, whether it is someone he has known for decades or even if it’s a stranger — you give him a call and he will be there for you,” said 79-year-old Bhopal Kaushik, who claimed he has been part of Agarwal’s 10 electoral campaigns.

“I’ve known him for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been a Congress supporter since 1962… Hum dono saath mai kaam ke liye khoob bhage hai,” he added.

Meanwhile, at a joint meeting of AAP and Congress workers earlier this week in Rani Bagh, Agarwal recognised an old friend from his time as an MCD councillor. He declared, “He was a member of the corporation along with me,” as he presented Bhushan Lal to the gathering. “I want to reassure him that I am the same old friend who he had worked with on the streets in the past and that I will continue doing so in the future,” he added.