In a move to understand the problems faced by the slum dwellers, the top leaders of Delhi unit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) visited slums and jhuggis and will be spending a night with them, aiming to woo a voter base that has long been a stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). According to the BJP, their leaders will stay with a family in different clusters, share meals, discuss their problems, and seek their suggestions for solutions.
For the past few months, Delhi’s slums have been at the heart of a quiet, but steady outreach by the BJP – marked by visits and overnight stays – in the city’s sprawling jhuggis.The BJP is making a push to penetrate this key demographic, which could determine the outcome in 25 of Delhi’s 70 assembly constituencies. Estimates suggest that around 3 million people live in Delhi’s 750 slums, with half of them registered voters — a 10th of the city’s total voter base of around 15 million.
The assembly constituencies with big base of slum voters are Narela, Adarsh Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Rajendra Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Badarpur, Tughlakabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Seemapuri, Babarppur, Trilokpuri, Kondli, Okhla, Moti Nagar, Madipur, Shalimar Bagh, Matiala and Kirari.
This overnight stay program is part of the Delhi BJP’s ongoing Slum Expansion Campaign, running for the past five months, under which the party has appointed slum expanders and slum caretakers. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, who stayed overnight at Rajiv Camp and Krishna Market, Jhilmil, in East Delhi, said, “The BJP is the first party whose leaders have been directly communicating with people, especially the youth, in all the Jhuggi clusters in Delhi for the last 5 months, understanding their problems and solutions.”
He stated that through our workers functioning as Jhuggi Vistarks we have understood the life and problems of the residents of the Jhuggi clusters. “We are participants in their lives, and the upcoming BJP government in Delhi will ease their lives through Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB),” he said.
South Delhi BJP MP Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, who visited VP Camp in Tughlakabad, said that BJP believes in improving, not dismantling, the Jhuggi clusters. “Our upcoming government will create a separate department to ensure cleanliness in the Jhuggi settlements,” he asserted.
National General Secretary Dushyant Gautam visited Aram Bagh in Paharganj and claimed that the leadership of BJP, from Jansangh founder Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has always been dedicated to the principles of Antyodaya. “The BJP government that we will form in Delhi in February 2025 will serve the last person living in Jhuggi with the spirit of Antyodaya,” he said.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi assembly Vijendra Gupta visited Badli Industrial Area and spent his night with the slum dwellers of the area. He said that they have not only connected with our Jhuggi residents for votes but also to bring about a change in their family life and provide quality education to their children. Northwest Delhi MP Yogendra Chandolia visited HMB Jhuggi, West Delhi MP Kamaljeet Sahrawat visited Matiala Goyla Dairy, Chandni Chowk MP Praveen Khandelwal visited Shriram Chowk in Wazirpur Industrial Area and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj visited Bindusar Camp in Greater Kailash.
Senior BJP leader Kailash Gehlot visited the CISF camp in Bijwasan and MLA Abhay Verma visited the Harijan Basti Sonia Camp Mandawali.
