Feb 09, 2020
For the first time in 54 days, the protest site at road 13A in Shaheen Bagh looked deserted on Saturday morning. There were no programmes, music performances, or speeches scheduled during the day.
The men, mostly non-Delhi voters from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, passed time in one corner chatting or playing with their cellphones.
The organisers said they had made a conscious decision scale down the protests to ensure local residents stepped out to vote.
“It is time to take our fight to the polling booth,” KamruNisa, 78, a resident of Abu Fazal Enclave, said. “All women from here are voting today. We have been making announcements daily, urging people to vote. Our weeks of sitting in this cold will be useless if we do not vote.”
At Shaheen Bagh, the organisers had arranged e-rickshaws and autorickshaws for women voters to be driven to polling booths through the crowded lanes of Jamia Nagar. There were local auto-rickshaw drivers who claimed they were not charging any money from the women passengers.
The anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters of Shaheen Bagh has been a constant feature in the election rallies in the run-up to the polls. Since December 16, last year, the protesters led by women have started a sit-in protest blocking road 13A — an important arterial road that connects Delhi with Noida.
The Okhla constituency, of which Shaheen Bagh is a part, has many Muslim-dominated areas. Barring a few pockets such as Sarita Vihar, Madanpur Khadar, New Friends Colony and Sukhdev Vihar, a large section of the voters in Okhla are Muslims.
Voters in Okhla said election this time was centered around the new Citizenship Law and how it is biased against the Muslims.
The help desks outside polling booths in Okhla were mostly manned by AamAadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress workers. The sitting legislator from the area is AAP’s Amanatullah Khan.
With tricolours painted on their faces, most voters in queue on Saturday said they were casting their franchise to save the Constitution. There were some who wore T shirts with messages printed on the back. One such message was about a Citizenship Law survey that read ‘73.2% of the 3.28 million voters do not favour the CAA’. There was no mention of who conducted the survey.
“The Shaheen Bagh protests has disrupted lives of many residents in Okhla. But it is not the central issue, because people from marginalised background vote for development and local issues, like free water and electricity,” Archana Tiwari, 51, a Jasola resident.
Less than two kilometers away from Shaheen Bagh, at Sarita Vihar, the help desks set up by the BJP outnumbered other parties. The BJP workers manning the desks proudly said the Shaheen Bagh protesters would help them win the polls.
Rishi Pandey, a local resident, who was in charge of one such booth, said the road blockade affected lakhs of residents. “Voters are smart. They know who are funding the protests. The results will surprise them on Tuesday,” Pandey said.
In Sukhdev Vihar, one of the affluent neighbourhoods in Okhla, dominated by non-Muslim voters, 66-year-old resident Surender Singla said populist policies will ruin the country. “Roads, electricity, and water are minor issues. We should vote for national integrity and strong government that can take decisions and handle the chaos in the country (the CAA protests).”
But Sunny Singh, 30, a software professional, disagreed. “Development is the main criteria. People will vote for those who have worked towards development. The CAA protest will influence voters because there is an atmosphere of us versus them that has been created by branding one category of people as anti-nationals.”
For a population of around 3,309,15 voters, 58.83% voters from Okhla came out to vote on Saturday — slightly lower than 2015 assembly election’s 60.73%. The AamAadmi Party’s Amanatullah Khan is seeking re-election from the seat against Brahm Singh from the BJP and Congress veteran Parvez Hashmi.
On Saturday, as the voting process was coming to an end, the loud speakers in Shaheen Bagh were switched on and the air filled with patriotic songs. The women were returning, while the sun set in the Yamuna across the border. They walked carefully towards the stage – mindful not to disturb the carpet that has been laid on the road. One of the organisers near the stage checked the loudspeaker. The lights were switched on.
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