Delhi Polls: Low-income voters’ backing for AAP and local BJP workers’ lack of discipline test RSS poll managers

NEW DELHI: As the ferocious and fractious campaign for Delhi ended on Thursday, one major player, the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh, packed its bags with an unusual feeling – puzzlement.

RSS workers work with BJP cadre in almost every election and the long campaign cycle that started with general elections has seen heavy Sangh campaign work. But Delhi 2015 was a campaign that tested many of the 3,000 Sangh election managers.

The surge in Aaam Aadmi Party’s acceptance among lower income voters, local BJP workers “lack of discipline and organization”, and city residents’ daily routines – so different from rural India’s – are among the reasons that have left RSS’s Delhi poll army more puzzled than confident. Typical of this was a meeting of kabadiwallahs (people who collect recyclable throw-aways like bottles, papers) in Chandni Chowk on Wednesday. Jitendra Kapoor (54), an RSS worker for 30 years, looked calm but admitted to some unrest. He said he had been working in the area for 45 days and a register that maintains a list of everyday developments is witness to it.

“These are jatavs. Many of them are angry that we projected a police person like Kiran Bedi. We can’t let them go as all the other Dalits are with the AAP. We are telling them to vote for Modi, our country.” On the outskirts, another RSS worker Suryaprakash was busy making calculations that BJP or RSS never thought they would have to make – hoping for some support for Congress.

“It is a mild relief that Congress is surging ahead in Mongolpuri. Even in Mundka they are not doing that badly. This time everything, including the BJP’s fate in Delhi, depends on how well the Congress performs,” the RSS poll manager said.

For people like Jitendra and Surya, both from MP, the Delhi polls became a test of the Sangh’s ability to do groundwork among voters who move to an urban rhythm. RSS always prefers to talk to all voters in the household. But this is a challenge in an urban setting.

“Here during the day time, only women and children are in houses, not men. The AAP has a way of doing campaigns and meetings at nights which we must learn from,” an RSS senior activist who did not want to be identified said.

He was also critical of BJP workers. “In the last 15 years a generation has passed away in Delhi without any Sangh values. These BJP workers here lack discipline and the ability to selfless service. They are too involved in politics and don’t believe in team work,” this RSS senior said, and his views were echoed by many ET spoke to.

The class divide also took RSS by surprise in Delhi. “People in jhuggis-jhopdis seem besotted with the AAP. We are focussing on the middle class and people living in unauthorised colonies. We are telling the latter houses are not a distant dream as Modiji has already decided to regularise their colonies,” said a volunteer working in East Delhi.