New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi added 'a roof over every head' to his party's promises of low-cost water and electricity in what is being viewed as his answer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a slum-free Delhi by 2022 during his maiden attempt at wooing voters here on Tuesday.
Mr. Gandhi chose a venue at the crossroads of three bustling slum clusters in South Delhi's Kalkaji Assembly constituency, the Nav Jeevan, Bhoomiheen and Jawaharlal Nehru Camps for the announcement and declared it at the conclusion of an hour and a half long road show among the residents of an estimated 8000 hutments located in the area.
Arriving at 3:25 pm atop an open truck, he had the party's candidate from the Assembly Subhash Chopra, Greater Kailash candidate Sharmishta Mukherjee, general secretary and campaign in-charge Ajay Maken, election in-charge PC Chacko and Delhi unit president Arvinder Singh for company.
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Police estimates put the number of attendees between 5000 and 7000 for Mr. Gandhi's three-kilometre-long road show which, according to insiders, was symbolically arranged to commence metres away from a site where 3000, in-situ flats are under construction for the resettlement of the area's slum dwellers.
“The main issue that the Congress seeks to address in the upcoming polls is the welfare of the poor and to ensure that everyone however rich, poor, strong or weak finds space enough to live in Delhi,” Mr. Gandhi said.
“What this means is low-cost electricity, water and the right to shelter, the right to a roof over one's head...We are the party of the people who are asking when the PM's promises will translate into something concrete on the ground, of the poor and of the weak,” he added.
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As far as he was concerned, the Congress wanted to ensure the social inclusion of the poor and the projection of 'a dream that the poor could aspire to'.
The grand old party's latest poll pitch, Mr. Gandhi said, would be modelled on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and would, he claimed, be slightly modified to cover contractual employees who would be given permanent jobs.
Meanwhile, many attendees of his road show admitted they were still unsure about supporting his party and had turned up 'only to catch a glimpse of him'.
“Look around you; do you see any of the development that the party claims it brought to Delhi here? Why should we given them five more years to correct mistakes they should have a long time ago?” asked Kusum Devi, 52, a resident.
“He should try and spend some time here before making such promises; this isn't the first time and he isn't the first leader to make such promises to us residents who've seen no part of these turning into reality for decades,” said Ram Nath Pandey, 62.
EOM