Journalism of Courage
A scientist-environmentalist, a computer teacher, a Warli community member who has worked on malnourishment among the tribal communities in Palghar, are some of the candidates fielded by Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in Mumbai and its neighbouring constituencies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party, which was the first to declare its candidates along with their castes, has claimed that it wants to ensure representation to the marginalised communities in Parliament.
Prakash Ambedkar’s Bharatiya Republican Party Bahujan Mahasangh and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had joined forces to form the VBA in a bid to consolidate the Muslim-Dalit votes and provide an alternative to the established alliances in the state, including the BJP-Shiv Sena and the Congress-NCP.
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The VBA has fielded candidates from all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Suresh Padvi, the 34-year-old candidate of the party from Palghar seat, sais that if elected, he will voice the need for a hospital in the district, which is home to a large population of tribals. Belonging to the Warli community, Padvi had worked as a farmer till 2011, before working full-time with the Adivasi Ekta Sena Sanstha for tribal rights.
“Malnourishment remains a big concern among the tribal communities here, apart from the issues of water and electricity crisis. Proper healthcare facilities will ensure that they do not have to travel to neighbouring Thane or Gujarat,” Padvi, who was on a tour of Mokhada on Saturday, said. The area has seen many deaths linked to malnourishment in the past.
Padvi, who had contested as an Independent candidate in 2014, said that this year he was selected as the VBA candidate based on a survey conducted by the party in the district.
For 50-year-old Niharika Khondalay, her association with the Dhangar community, to which she belongs, was one of the reason she was selected to contest from the Mumbai Northeast seat.
The former computer teacher has worked with the Dhangar Samaj Vikas Parishad for many years fighting for reservation for the community. Khondalay had left her job to work with the Dhangar community.
She said that there were no apprehensions in her mind regarding contesting the election as the environment at home was conducive to it. Her mother was the district head of the Congress and subsequently with the NCP, while her father was at the forefront of the Dhangar community’s fight for reservation under the Scheduled Tribes category. Her husband, who works as an undersecretary at the Vidhan Bhavan, also means that she has seen bureaucracy from close quarters, she said. “I am often asked now if a candidate like me can take on the might of the BJP or Congress, which have much more financial and logistical backing for their candidates. I feel that the struggle of the marginalised communities for representation, which they have never got, trumps the power that these parties have,” Khondalay said.
The party’s Bhiwandi candidate is Arun Sawant, a former pro vice-chancellor of Mumbai University. Belonging to the Kunbi caste, Sawant, a PhD in MSc, currently is the India director at Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council. Batting for the representation of scientists in the parliament, Sawant said, if elected, he will speak for conservation of the environment and implementation of international conventions in the Lok Sabha.
Closer home, Sawant, who grew up in Wada taluka of Bhiwandi, said that he wanted to flag issues of housing for power loom workers and clean drinking water for the residents of his constituency.
“The lakes in the area provide water to the entire Mumbai city and yet the villages, from where the pipelines pass, do not have access to clean drinking water. The nearly 7 lakh population of power loom workers in Bhiwandi lives and works in deplorable conditions with no focus on their health and hygiene issues. Their housing and modernisation of the industry with equipment and other facilities to ensure exports also remain to be addressed,” Sawant said.
