People's Democracy

Jogendra Sharma

(The article being published here was sent to The Hindustan Times on December 1, as a rejoinder to Vir Sanghvi's article "A Tale of Two Cities" published in the same paper on November 26, with a request for publication in the paper's "Counter Point" column. The editor chose not to publish it, despite claims that views which are unpalatable to the paper are published in the said column, and returned it to the author after 19 days.)

REPRESENTATIVES of the elite are taking great joy nowadays in venting their spleen against the poor and middle class of Delhi through a spate of articles in newspapers. The occasion has been provided by the ongoing campaign to remove slums and industries from Delhi.

A representative sample of such writings comes from the pen of The Hindustan Times editor, Vir Sanghvi. His article, "A Tale of Two Cities," bristles with contempt for the poor and the lower middle class, of course suitably cloaked with now fashionable tirade against corrupt politicians and bureaucrats as well as a claim of speaking on behalf of the "silent majority" of Delhi's population. The irony is that the Vir Sanghvis of the world are deaf to the rising voice of the majority, who are today anything but silent.

Who constitute this majority of Delhi's population? They are migrant workers who come to this city and other metropolitan centres because, even after 53 years of independence, the country's rulers cannot provide them jobs in or near their places of residence. They do not come through choice but from necessity, and that is why they tolerate living in the most dreadful conditions in city slums. This section of the majority of Delhi's citizens constitutes around 40 per cent of the city's population.

The second biggest section of the majority belongs to the middle class which is around 35 per cent of the city's population. Most of them are employed in the public and private sectors. Another 10 per cent of the population is engaged in cottage or small scale manufacturing units or are small and medium shopkeepers.

Let us examine the living and working conditions of this 85 per cent population of Delhi and what they have to say.

The poor of the city, both industrial and other workers and craftsmen, by and large live in more than 1,200 slum clusters under most inhuman conditions, deprived of even minimum civic facilities. They are responsible for all the major economic and productive activities of the city but themselves remain deprived. Their contribution to the economic growth of the city and its maintenance is never recognised. Most of them are underpaid and do not get even minimum wages. Thanks to the corrupt labour department and successive BJP and Congress governments of the capital, no labour law applies to them. They are hired and fired by their employers at will. The last decade with the new economic policy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation has seen the judiciary ordering the closure of industries in the name of pollution --- without punishing the guilty polluters and with no thought to the future of the workers. On the contrary, affected by such judicial orders, more than 50,000 workers and their families paid the price for the crime of polluting the city, a crime they never committed. Such are the glories of class justice!

Now their jhuggis are being demolished and their only means of livelihood is being taken away through a drive to relocate or close down the cottage and small scale industries. Don't they have the right to live? The poor, 40 per cent of the city's population, speak out very loudly and clearly --- Stop bulldozing our jhuggis! Stop bulldozing the means of our livelihood!

As regards the middle class, most of them live in more than 1,000 unauthorised colonies which too are constantly facing the threat of demolition. Only a small part of this segment is fortunate enough to have a flat or house on a small plot purchased from the DDA or a group housing cooperative society. Almost 95 per cent owners of such flats or plot holders have made some alteration or addition due to the needs of expanded families. Why did they do so in violation of the rules and regulations? Simply because they cannot afford the sky rocketing prices to buy new flats or houses. More so because they don't want their newly married children to live in jhuggis or on pavements. Jagmohan's bulldozer has targetted them also. This segment too is not silent. They are speaking up more and more loudly --- Regularise unauthorised colonies! Regularise alterations and additions in flats and plots! We are prepared to pay the fine. But stop the bulldozer!

In an ideal society, where people have equal opportunities for earning their livelihood and where housing is easily available, it would certainly be preferable not to have any type of commercial activity in a residential area. But is this possible in our cities today? With the growing unemployment, home-based businesses are an alternative means of survival that people turn to, in absence of any help from the government. Indeed, in the era of liberalisation and privatisation, the squeeze on the job market is evident. In such a situation, families are bound to start small businesses in the only place available to them --- their homes. Nobody likes to do this. The first to get inconvenienced is the family itself, but is there any alternative? Where there is a danger through hazardous or polluting industries, strict control is essential. But in other cases, the government has to change the rules.

The truth is that a well knit nexus of corrupt politicians, civic officials, police and central government officials, land mafia and builders has been running riot in the capital city, negatively affecting its planned development. They have made crore of rupees in the process. It is also true that successive Congress and BJP governments of the city as well as individual leaders of both these parties have indulged in vote bank politics, and many of them are part of this nexus. Let the courts punish such people irrespective of their political affiliations or high connections. But why should the 85 per cent population of Delhi be punished in the name of a "sacred" Master Plan that was never respected by its own authors.

Jagmohan has his own share of responsibility for the chaotic development of the city. The better part of his bureaucratic career was spent in land management in Delhi. He started his innings first in L&DO and later in the DDA in various capacities --- as director, land management; commissioner, land implementation; vice chairman, DDA; and finally as the lieutenant governor (LG) of Delhi. The Jagmohan fans club should know that corrupt officials, the land mafia, unscrupulous builders and colonisers flourished like anything during his long tenure in Delhi. Unauthorised colonies came up in a big way; these were regularised in the early 1980s. When he was the LG of the Delhi, these crooks continued to make their millions. What was he doing then? This bulldozerman of Emergency notoriety has not learnt any lesson from his past experience. If the "rehabilitation" of the poor slum-dwellers results in the loss of their means of livelihood, no force on earth can stop the re-emergence of jhuggis in the city again and again and again.

The class bias of Vir Sanghvi and his ilk makes them blind to the plight of the poor and the lower middle class. That is why they don't hear the voice of the majority of Delhi's population. They are concerned only with their memories of a lost romantic past. Ruing what he sees as the sordid fate of Bombay today, Sanghvi goes down memory lane to his days in that city in 1963. What he recalls is revealing --- A wonderful view from a fancy flat on Carmichael Road, on the top of Camballa Hill. Then it took only ten minutes to drive down to Churchgate while now it takes 45 minutes outside of rush hour. Sitting in his drawing room on a quiet evening, then he could hear the sound of waves splashing the seashore at Marine Drive. Alas! All that is gone forever. What a tragedy! Vir Sanghvi and his kindred souls are indeed entitled to their regrets.