NEW DELHI: In its bid to win over the Poorvanchalis, who comprise about 40 per cent of the city’s electorate, ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, the BJP on Friday held a “Poorvanchal Samman Yatra” with a tagline "Poorvanchaliyon ke samman me, BJP maidan mein” (the BJP to fight for Purvanchalis’ dignity). The BJP plans to corner AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal over his recent "fake voters from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh" comment.
Mr Kejriwal, on Thursday, had accused the BJP of bringing people from Bihar and neighbouring UP to enrol them as voters in his New Delhi Assembly constituency. He even lodged a complaint with the Election Commission.
With the issue of "fake voters" gaining traction in the days leading to the polls, both the BJP and the AAP have resorted to a poster war. While the BJP accuses Mr Kejriwal and his party of denigrating the Poorvanchalis, the ruling AAP launched a counterattack, saying the former CM has undertaken a lot of initiatives for the uplift of the community.
The BJP poster reading “Poorvanchal samaj ka apmaan, Sheesh Mahal ka nawab Kejriwal ki pehchan” (the nawab of Sheesh Mahal has hurt the Poorvanchal community) labelled Mr Kejriwal hostile to the Poorvanchal community. The BJP accused Mr. Kejriwal of dubbing Purvanchalis as "farzi" (fake) voters and had deserted them during the Covid-19 crisis while consistently ridiculing them when opportunities arose.
A day after BJP chief J.P. Nadda launched a scathing attack on Mr Kejriwal on Thursday, accusing him of insulting the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, thousands of BJP workers held a protest in the national capital, raising slogans against the former chief minister.
The BJP protest was led by Dinesh Pratap Singh and saw the participation of prominent faces of the party from Poorvanchal, like Abhay Verma, Manish Singh and Vipin Bihari Singh, among others. Heads of the Delhi BJP women wing and youth wing Richa Pandey Mishra and Sagar Tyagi, respectively, also joined in.
Holding placards reading "Purvanchal Virodhi Kejriwal" (Poorvanchali baiter Kejriwal), the BJP workers raised slogans such as "Litti chokha khayenge, Kejriwal bhagayenge", "Chhathi Maiya ki jai" and "Poorvanchal Virodhi Kejriwal murdabad" echoed during the protest.
Third-term Lok Sabha member of the BJP from Northeast Delhi Manoj Tiwari, who hails from Bihar, said, “Mr Kejriwal has always insulted the Poorvanchali community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made several objectionable statements and now he has referred to them as 'fake voters'. We will not forget this insult and neither will the people of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. This betrayal will remain etched in the memory of Delhiites as well."
“Poorvanchalis will give a befitting reply to the AAP and Mr Kejriwal by bringing the BJP to power in February,” Mr Tiwari added.
In a counterattack, the AAP chief accused the BJP-led Union government for neglecting the Poorvanchal community over the last decade. Mr Kejriwal said that while the AAP government has worked tirelessly to uplift unauthorised colonies, provide water and sewer pipelines and improve education and healthcare, the BJP, despite holding immense power and resources, has failed to deliver anything substantial for Poorvanchalis over the last decade.
Both the BJP and the AAP are embroiled in a bitter battle to win over the Poorvanchalis because they hold sway in about 20 Assembly seats. The fact that since the 1990s both Congress and the BJP have been giving representation to the community bears testament to Poorvanchalis' political clout.
While the BJP and the AAP slug it out, the Congress too is working overtime to woo the Poorvanchalis. Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who is in Delhi on Friday, said that the party will build a separate Chhath Ghat at the Yamuna banks on the lines of Maha Kumbh. He alleged that the BJP and the AAP treat people of Poorvanchal only as votebanks.
Poorvanchalis, a traditional vote bank of the Congress, switched sides and voted en masse for the AAP in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls. However, when Mr Tiwari took control of the Delhi BJP, they voted in favour of the saffron party in the 2017 civic polls. In 2020 Assembly polls, they, however, again voted for the AAP, bringing the Kejriwal-led government to power for the third time.
Some of the Purvanchali-dominated seats in Delhi include Burari, Seemapuri, Gokalpuri, Karawal Nagar, Kirari, Badli, Nangloi, Rithala, Matiala, Vikaspuri, Dwarka, Uttam Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Deoli, Badarpur, Tughlakabad, Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar, Wazirpur and Rajinder Nagar.
