BJP juggernaut hits rut in Mundka

If Ved Singh’s mother Panmeshwari is the new Samata Party candidate from Nangloi Jat, she is also a route for the people of Mundka to send their message across about “the BJP’s indifference”. The village panchayat is also divided. Says Chaudhary Ratan Singh Lakra, a member of the panchayat: “Some still want to vote for the BJP, others for Samata and a few for the Congress. But certainly not everyone for the BJP, anymore”.

Ratan Singh adds that those in the panchayat still upset over Ved Singh’s murder will ensure that Mundka residents vote for his mother and the Samata Party. “I think this means 60 per cent of the people in Mundka,” he says. Others point out that Ved Singh would probably have not have won. He had switched over to the Samata party shortly before he was murdered. Voters in the constituency had always seen him as a BJP man, as Sahib Singh Verma’s eyes and ears. And the villagers of Mundka had always voted for the BJP and Sahib Singh.

“But now, what matters is that Ved Singh, the richest man of Mundka, is dead. And Ved Singh had a lot to do with Mundka’s development. Also, now it doesn’t matter whether he was from the BJP, or the Samata Party when he was killed,” says Deep Chand.

Mundka residents, nevertheless, say they have not forgotten that Sahib Singh got the roads metalled and ensured 24-hour electricity and water supply. But then Ved Singh was always with Sahib Singh.

Moreover, voters in the constituency reluctantly admit that they still are not entirely convinced that Sahib Singh’s brothers Azad Singh and Atar Singh had nothing to do with Ved Singh’s death. Azad was Ved Singh’s neighbour till November 10; he shifted to Atar Singh’s house on the village outskirts, fearing retribution. Secondly, Mundka residents are not impressed with police claims that Ved Singh was just a victim of inter-gang rivalry because he “was a very good man”.

And finally, it is common knowledge in the village that Ved Singh was a witness in a murder case involving Sahib Singh’s nephews.

“But we are not pointing fingers at anyone. We don’t want to be witnesses, and we don’t want to be killed,” says Devender Yadav, who owns a shop in the village square where Ved Singh was shot on the night of November 10.

Mundka is the largest village in Delhi, and also houses the largest chunk of voters (there are 14,000 households) in Nangloi Jat constituency. Their decision will decide the political fortunes of BJP candidate and Transport Minister Devinder Singh Shaukeen as well as Congress candidate P.C. Kaushik.

It all depends on how many votes Ved Singh’s mother manages to corner in Mundka.