How BJP’s outreach to Delhi’s slums rattled AAP

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday showed signs of nervousness over the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) recent slum outreach campaign in Delhi, as Delhi Chief Minister Atishi accused the saffron party of collecting names of slum dwellers for deletion from the voter list.

Ahead of elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly, due in February, the BJP has launched a massive outreach campaign to get a foothold in the city's slums, considered to be strongholds of the ruling AAP.

As a part of the campaign, BJP leaders stayed overnight in 1,194 slum clusters across the national capital on Sunday to connect with the slum dwellers and address their concerns.

The move led to the AAP’s defensive posture against perceived intrusion into their voter domain.

In a press conference, Atishi charged that the BJP leaders were visiting the slums, sharing food and clicking pictures with the slum dwellers to show their concern.

"However, I warn the slum dwellers to be wary of them (BJP leaders) because there are many examples that the slums they visit are demolished as it happened in Sundar Nagri where they had gone a few months ago," she said.

The senior AAP leader also alleged that the BJP leaders go to the slums and then get the names of slum dwellers deleted from voters' lists, citing the example of Shahdara's Ambedkar Basti.

Delhi BJP general secretary Vishnu Mittal, who is leading the campaign to sensitise slum dwellers, termed Atishi's press conference a sign of nervousness. 

In a video message posted on X, Mittal said, "“Aam Aadmi Party is rattled after BJP leaders’ overnight stay across slum areas of Delhi. The nervousness created by BJP’s campaign led to AAP CM Atishi hold a press conference. When we went earlier, she called it ‘jhuggi tourism’. I want to ask Atishi jee whether you will talk to slum dwellers only through press conferences or by visiting them.”

"The residents of the slums of Delhi are drinking bottled water. Drains and sewers are clogged. People are getting electricity bills. Your leaders visit the slums only during elections. The people of Delhi's slums have understood the reality of the AAP. They are not going to be misled by your press conference. They have trusted the AAP for ten years. The slum dwellers will now overthrow the AAP's corrupt government," Mittal added.

अतिशी जी, अगर हम झुग्गीवासियों की बातें सुन रहे हैं, तो #AAP को इतनी बेचैनी क्यों हो रही है? आपकी सरकार तो सिर्फ प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस में व्यस्त रहती है, झुग्गियों में जाना तो दूर, उनकी हालत तक नहीं देखती।

कोई तो उनकी आवाज सुनेगा, कोई तो उनके हक की लड़ाई लड़ेगा। #AAPFAIL… pic.twitter.com/cUT3hZxjIM

— Visshnu Mittal (@visshnumittal) December 16, 2024

The AAP's leadership seems wary that BJP's outreach might be a calculated move to garner votes. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has built its political capital on innocent poor people of Delhi by offering them free electricity and water.

Earlier on Monday, Mittal flagged off a bus full of residents of a Delhi slum on a religious pilgrimage to Mathura-Vrindavan.

During the overnight stay of BJP leaders in slum areas across Delhi, JJ Camp Anand Vihar residents expressed their desire to go on pilgrimage.

Mittal, who has been regularly sending Delhiites on pilgrimage, arranged for a bus ride to Vrindavan. Earlier, Mittal was seen making tea for slum dwellers in the house of the head of the JJ Camp slum.