‘Purvanchali’ Now a Vote Factor In Delhi: BJP’s Smart Move

Long neglected in Delhi, large number of the people coming from Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in the national capital whose contribution in nation building cannot be ignored has finally got some recognition from the BJP. Congress has been taking dig at people of Bihar, Jhrakhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh for making the capital ‘overcrowded’ and for rising crime graph. Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit is on record saying some time back that migration from Bihar is putting strain on resources of Delhi. Indirectly she has been blaming Purvanchali for water and power shortage.

With elections approaching, the BJP held an impressive rally of people from Purvanchal in Delhi on Wedensday and promised a number of steps for the people from this region. I was present at the rally in my capacity as ‘co-in-charge’ of Delhi elections to assist Mr. Nitin Gadkari who is in charge of the Delhi polls. Encouraged by massive response, Mr. Gadkari assured the people that if the BJP is voted to power in Delhi it will declare the festival of ‘Chhath’ a public holiday. It has been a long standing demand of the people of this region to declare ‘Chhath’ a holiday but the Congress government made promises to do so in the past, but never did it. 

According to one estimate there are more than 30 lakh voters in Delhi who are ‘Purvanchalis’ and can change the fortune of a candidate in at least 20 Assembly constituencies in the capital. But the people of the region also expect the BJP to field some candidates in the polls belonging to this region. But it is up to the Party leadership to decide.

Mr. Gadkari also promised the people to provide medical benefit under free health care scheme and 10 lakh low cost houses to benefit economically weak families of people of Purvanchal.

In electoral politics, ‘pressure group’ works. I am not suggesting that the people of Purvanchal are exerting any pressure on political parties for a due share in participation. But the fact remains that unless people are united as a group, political parties would not care for them. I have been working steadfastly in trying to infuse a sense of unity among the people from Purvanchal drawn from various caste groups but with a cultural bond. There are many festivals including Chhath that people from this region celebrate in a particular pattern. It has been my endeavor not to create any division in the society but to unite people of the region for better service to the nation with dedication as a group of people.

Purvanchalis are nationalists to the core. Their contribution to the freedom movement and in the post independent India can’t be undermined or ignored. They have gone too far from their hearth and home in search of livelihood. In the process people from this region has transformed states like Punjab into India’s granary by working as farm labourers. Mumbai for that matter owes its growth to the migrant population from Purvanchal. It is not only the labour class that works for the growth of the nation but hosts of qualified engineers, doctors, academicians, entrepreneurs and social workers besides politicians from the region are an asset to the nation by their continued contribution to the uplift of the society and the country.

~R. K. Sinha