Delhi polls: Gul Panag to give a leg-up to AAP's bike rallies

NEW DELHI: There is a 350cc thumper on Delhi's busy roads in the middle of heavy electioneering. As poll fever grips the capital, Aam Aadmi Party has roped in its spunky Chandigarh Lok Sabha candidate Gul Panag to give a leg-up to their campaign with bike rallies.

Clad in a body-hugging jacket with her hair pulled back in a plait, the former Miss India is leading a pack of trailblazers in constituencies where the party is fielding its women candidates. And like in Chandigarh, she is making quite a few heads turn here.

The 36-year-old began her campaign from Munirka on Wednesday with RK Puram candidate Pramila Tokas, poignantly choosing the spot where the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape had shaken the collective conscience of the country.

"It's symbolic. The incident was horrifying and nothing has changed since then. Delhi is as patriarchal as other places," she says. "The purpose of this rally is to sensitize women on what our party has to offer—like last mile connectivity and an SOS feature on mobile phones—and instil fearlessness in them."

As she rides into a locality with other bikers, heads turn and a handful of women of different ages gravitate towards her, asking about how she took to biking and whether she gives lessons in bike riding. Although she is not ready to become their teacher, she informs them about how she is no longer a loner and that at least six women-only bike clubs have come up in India, an indication of increasing participation, albeit with a minority of 5,000-odd such riders. As more people crowd around her, she starts telling women how they should take to two-wheelers and not be dependent on their husbands.

Considering how most crimes against women take place on roads, her party has framed a women's safety manifesto, called 'Delhi Dialogue', which is based on discussions with women from different walks of life. Brimming with her passion for the road, AAP's poster girl is quick to enumerate the poll promises on securing women that include civil defence force, decoy marshals in buses, and exclusive public toilets for women.

Though Panag had finished third in Chandigarh and her party could not secure a clean majority in their debut, she insists that Kejriwal's candidates are better equipped to handle Delhi's rising crime against women. "No party has demanded statehood for Delhi. To correct the law and order situation in Delhi, we must get Delhi Police and the civic authorities under the Delhi government," she said.

She agrees that too many protests by her party dented its image but said, "The focus of course will be on introducing right legalizations".