A family of 10, Rs 10,000 in monthly savings: Why this Dalit family will vote for AAP

While the Opposition may accuse the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal of making empty promises, the Bharats – ranging between the ages of 80 and 12 – are convinced he will keep his word, particularly on cash handouts to women. Kejriwal, the sense is, is someone who “gets things done”.

The women of the Bharat family. (Express Photo: Chitral Khambhati)

The AAP has won the Kondli reserved seat the past three times (2013, 2015, 2020). Not much seems to have changed in these 12 years, with the constituency comprising packed houses with shared walls and tiny lanes. Overflowing drains, sewage problems, as well as bad roads remain the main talking points in the seat.

But it’s not just the Bharats who are willing to overlook this as they talk about “the change in our own lives”.

On Monday, as sitting MLA and AAP nominee Kuldeep Kumar arrives for a corner meeting at A Block in Kondli village, Premvati, 80, occupies the front row. The matriarch of the Bharat family, she has come to the meeting alone, and is among the 100-120 women in the audience.

Arriving to the shower of flower petals from first floors of houses and to slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Bheem”, Kumar says Kejriwal is a “vaade nibhane waala (someone who keeps his promises)”.

“He kept his promise to provide electricity and water 24X7. He made free travel for women possible. He will now give Rs 2,100 to women through the Mahilla Samman. Is that right?” Kumar asks.

Premvati and others put their hands up to respond with an emphatic “haan”.

The family

The Bharats are Jatavs, from the Scheduled Caste community, and live in a colony of Dalits.

Dhamdeep Singh, 45, Premvati’s son who works at the Agra branch of the Uttar Pradesh Excise Department, is the family’s sole breadwinner, supporting wife Meena, their two kids, as well as his elder brother Prabuddh’s family of four.

The pension Premvati gets for her late husband, who worked at Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited or MTNL (a Central government body) and retired as a supervisor, helps.

Says Prabuddh, 56, who lost his job after a court case: “Welfare schemes toh pehli bhi theen, but Kejriwal ji ne karke diya (There used to be welfare schemes earlier as well, but Kejriwal has actually implemented them).”

The Bharat family is willing to overlook this as they talk about “the change in our own lives”. (Express Photo: Chitral Khambhati)

Prabuddh’s wife Neetu enrolled recently for the Mahila Samman Yojana as part of a pre-poll drive held by the AAP government. Looking forward to the same, she talks of how they have benefited under the AAP, including no electricity bill in winters despite their large family. “Water is clean. Earlier, the roads were full of garbage but now, a truck comes every morning to collect it. Overall, most things get done quicker. I can also trust the mohalla clinic for small illnesses. They have a good stock of medicines.”

Their daughter Sankissa, 22, a first-time voter, is doing a stenography course alongside BA in English from an open university. “I studied at a government school. My seniors would tell me how much things had improved, be it the benches or the general infrastructure,” she says, adding that she is able to pursue the stenography course now because of the free bus ride scheme for women.

Sankissa trains at a centre at Noida, 30 minutes away, and a bus ride would otherwise have cost her Rs 15 per ride. Apart from the money saved, she feels safe as most of her co-passengers are women, Sankissa says.

Both Neetu and sister-in-law Meena talk of increased mobility due to the scheme – to travel back to their maternal homes, or to go out just for fun.

Meena talks of delivering her second child in 2019, and how that too was a startling change from before the AAP government’s time. Meena had both her deliveries – Akhshobya Deep Singh in 2012, and Advait Deep Singh seven years later – at Lok Nayak Hospital (run by the Delhi government).

“I remember that in 2012, the maternity wards were dirty. There would be a shortage of beds. Medicines like folic acid would have to be bought from outside,” Meena says. Adding that the hospital had improved drastically by 2019, she adds: “Kejriwal will give more facilities. Whatever he has done, he has done well.”

State vs Centre

Realising the pull of the AAP government’s schemes, rivals BJP and Congress too have promised similar benefits this time.

To counter the AAP’s Mahila Samman Yojana, the BJP has promised Rs 2,500 under the Mahila Samridhi Yojana. If the BJP has the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana for healthcare, the AAP has rolled out Sanjeevani Yojana promising free medical care in government and private hospitals for all citizens above 60. There are other promises, from education to cylinders.

AAP MLA and nominee Kuldeep Kumar (Monu) addressing a corner meeting in Kondli. (Express Photo: Chitral Khambhati)

Dhamdeep Singh knows about the same but, for him, the difference is that the AAP is interested in doing “seva (service)” while the BJP “frames its narrative based on elections”. “They have money and muscle power. Besides, Harsh Malhotra (the BJP Kondli candidate and its East Delhi MP) has not come to our area even once.”

That seems to be working in the favour of Kuldeep Kumar, who started out as a social worker and activist in the area and is known to have grassroots connect. In 2020, then just 25, Kumar had won Kondli by 18,000 votes.

However, the 2024 Lok Sabha results were just the opposite, with Kumar (who was fielded by the AAP from East Delhi) losing to Malhotra by over 90,000 votes.

The Bharat family says their family voted for the AAP, despite knowing that the BJP was likely to win the Lok Sabha polls. “The AAP has provided for us, the BJP has not done much. We do not know how they won… We have also heard of EVM tampering,” says Meena.

If the AAP returns to power, Meena hopes it will go beyond what it has done in schools and education. “They have taken the initial steps, but people are struggling to find jobs. They need to revamp the entire system, combat this. It is a real concern.”

For now, Premvati sums up, “AAP se fayda hai (we gain with AAP)”. “Bijli muft, paani muft, bus ka kiraya muft.”

The BJP counters the narrative of things getting better in Kondli.

BJP nominee Priyanka Gautam says the schemes rolled out by the AAP have only been helpful in the first couple of months of their introduction — and have since been ridden with problems of delivery.

“Dirty water from the gutter is coming into homes across the constituency not just in the urban village parts of the constituency but also in apartment complexes. Laying sewer lines remains our main priority. We only have one hospital, the Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital in Kalyanpuri. There are no facilities at all. Especially in our Dalit bastis, no fund has been used or allotted. When I campaign, people are showing me electricity bills and water bills. Some people are still being charged,” says Gautam.