Sub-inspector Ramesh Kumar takes up his position, just a few steps away from the heavy gates, at 8 a.m. everyday. He is expected to check any unauthorised movement into the Delhi Vidhan Sabha but over the last eight months there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary.
Apart from staffers, gardeners, daily wagers and stray dogs which are in plenty here, visits by legislators have been few and far between.
A day before Delhi decides who will be the 70 men and women they will send to this handsome building on Alipur Road curving gracefully in the centre like a half-moon, Mr. Kumar sat opposite Room Number 29: the room allotted for the Leader of Opposition.
A year ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Harsh Vardhan used to behind the large desk in this room interacting with colleagues, giving sharp responses to journalists on statements made by the then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The desk has since been wiped clean and the room vacant barring pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Dr. Hedgewar and the bookcase contains the entire collection of Savarkar Samargar intact.
A few steps away, workmen climb a long ladder to scrape away the plaster from the walls and apply a fresh coat of paint. A large bottle of paint remover with a picture of a red rooster sat on a window sill next to a locked room number 49. Someone had left it there with a slender brush precariously placed on it. Another worker was bent over a lamp wiping the dust off the glass face.
The white ‘Old Secretariat’ building which has been the seat of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha since December 1993 was a quieter, calmer version of its former self. There were no legislators huddled in groups sharing a joke or the shrill sound of a bell alerting them that they were expected back in the House. In fact, the green plastic cushions embedded into the wooden chairs on which year after year legislators sat and debated on issues that concern Delhi had a thin film of dust on them.
Much like all the chairs and tables in the MLA lounge that were being wiped clean and a coat of varnish applied over it.
“The last year has been a bit relaxed,” admits Sarita Misra who works in the legislative branch of the Assembly. She and her colleagues were taking a post-lunch walk around the large premises past the potted flowers and under the winter sun. “Next week will be busy though. We will have to prepare the materials for the oath taking ceremony and collate information on all 70 legislators which will be compiled into a ‘Who is who’ booklet that will be circulated,” she says, assuming that a political party will reach the simple majority.
Elsewhere, 63-year-old Prem Pal Saroch, a retired deputy secretary was catching up with his former colleagues. Mr. Saroch who worked his way up the ranks from a stenographer admits to have been part of an exciting and “bustling” time at the Vidhan Sabha. “The building was completed in a year back in 1911,” he says. “There are so many rooms and the material used was first-class,” Mr. Saroch adds. “See there are no white ants even…” he says pointing to the large doors.
His colleague, a current deputy secretary and therefore refused to be named, said: “The House may not been in session but we still have to take care of administrative issues, accounts and caretaking”. A peon in an office nearby said: “Some MLAs came here before elections were declared to put in claims for medical bills and so on.”
