New Delhi: At the Swada JJ cluster in Nizampur in the North West Delhi parliamentary constituency, outside the local temple, dedicated to Durga and Rishi Valmiki, Bharatiya Janata Party workers try to keep the small crowd that has gathered entertained with music and slogans in anticipation of their candidate who is running late. With some fanfare, one of them announces, ‘A great Punjabi singer is going to be amidst you soon. He’s Modiji’s favourite singer and you must make him yours.’ The reaction among the assembled audience is not one he has anticipated. ‘Is this candidate the BJP’s idea of a joke?’ asks Neha Dosh, a 22-year-old law student. She confidently tells us that everyone in her colony and neighbouring clusters will vote for the Aam Aadmi Party. ‘We don’t want a singer from Punjab, we want Arvind Kejriwal.’ As we wait, we talk to the residents of this Valmiki basti. They are unanimous in their support forGugan Singh Ranga, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate who joined the AAP in 2017. But it is not Ranga who matters as much as the party he represents in this reserved seat, the largest constituency in Delhi ‘Please go and see the government school, it was falling apart, AAP has transformed it,’ Neha says while others nod in agreement. Sunita, holding her 6-month-old baby adds, “We lived in the gutter, now at least we have a drain.’ “AAP is the only one to work for the poor,” says Alok Kumar, a retired clerk, ‘It’s also the only party that has poor people as its members and managers. Go to the BJP office and you’ll know what we’re talking about.” The conversation is interrupted by a rising crescendo of music and slogans, the BJP candidate has arrived and everyone rushes out to see him. Hans Raj Hans, in a white kurta pajama, wearing a saffron saafa (turban), a saffron stole dotted with the party symbol and a marigold garland, steps out. He is mobbed by the local media as he makes his way to the temple. Within seconds he emerges to address the crowd. ‘Yeh meri arzu bhee hai, meri abru bhee aur tammanna bhi,’ (It’s my longing, my desire) but is interrupted instantly by a senior BJP worker who takes the mic, cuts him off and yells ‘Vande Matram’. He then whispers something into the singer’s ear. The microphone back in his hand, Hans Raj Hans leaves the earlier sentence incomplete and goes on to say, “I have come here on Modiji’s behest, for Modiji and to ask for votes for Modiji. You saw how he gave Pakistan a fitting reply; when you vote, remember the nation’s security first.” ‘Aap mere naam pe button dabaiye, kamal ka phool khilega Modiji naam par’ (Press the button on my name and the lotus will bloom in Modi’s name). ‘I will win and you will win, and together we will work and have some fun,’ Hans concludes his speech. As he starts to climb down the temple stairs, another BJP leader pulls him back up, thrusts a piece of paper in his hand. He reads it and says ‘I have a list of local issues here I promise to look into them. I have got a house in Rohini now so I am no longer an outsider.’ He then ends his speech again with a ‘Jai Maharaj Valmikiji ki Jai’ followed by a chorus of Vande Matram and Bharat mata ki jai led by the BJP workers. § The BJP has fielded Hans hoping that even as an outsider, his identity as a Valmiki would work in his favour in this constituency with a large Valmiki population. ‘But traditional caste calculations aren’t going to be important in colonies like ours,’ says a local resident, Rohit, a Valmiki himself. Referring to the BJP’s decision to drop their sitting MP Udit Raj, the former bureaucrat who has since quit and joined the Congress, Rohit adds, ‘If the BJP cared about Dalits why did they cancel Udit Raj’s ticket?’ As the gathering disperses, Alok, a construction worker, sums up the mood, ‘We came to see Hans Raj Hans because he’s a big name but he would have been better off as a singer in Punjab than a politician here.’ Ironically, the sentiment of strangers is echoed by old friends, well-wishers or others who have tracked Hans’ career. ‘Politics is destroying the man and his music. It is greed perhaps, it is senselessness for sure, a disregard for good advice and a search for something he feels he doesn’t have,’ says Desraj Kali, a journalist and a close observer of Dalit politics in Punjab. Hans was born in Shafipur village in Jalandar, and was barely in his teens when he became a disciple of Puranshah Kotti, a legendary singer from the Mirasi tradition. His first hit, ‘Kanch diyan mundran’, reflected the traditional compositions of the Punjab Sufis that were part of his training. The song and the hits that followed brought him great acclaim. He became known as a Sufi singer, popular not just in Punjab but across the country and outside. In 1999, the great qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan chose him to sing a song on a soundtrack he had composed for a Bollywood film, Kacche Dhage. Ten years later, Hans created a stir when he entered politics, joining the Akali Dal to contest the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat, only to lose by a narrow margin. In 2014, angry at being denied a ticket, Hans joined the Congress. In October 2016, four months before the Assembly elections in the state, I interviewed Hans at his lavish home in Jalandhar. He was already upset with his new party, the Congress, which had denied him a Rajya Sabha seat. He also felt the Congress tended to overlook his Valmiki community in favour of the more politically dominant Ravidasiya (Jatavs) community. I had then accompanied him to Nakodar, to the darbar of Almast Baba Lal Badshah, revered locally as a Sufi saint, which dates to 1947. Hans is the sevadar of the dargah, in-charge of performing several religious rituals like the chaddar rasm or the burning of the main lamps. In his trademark kurta, wearing a green turban, he took us on a tour of the sprawling dargah complex, with its sparklingly clean floors, manicured lawns and a massive well organised langar. He spoke of the love he had for his pirs, the new construction he had undertaken with his money to expand the dargah and how it was a place open to all castes and religions. It was this dargah that was evoked by Kejriwal and the AAP in a bid to scuttle Hans’ candidature by terming him a Muslim and hence ineligible to contest a reserved seat. It was bad politics or at best ignorance of how fluid such spaces are in Punjab. ‘Arvind Kejriwal should know Punjab enough to know the darbar at Nakodar is not Hindu or Muslim,’ Kali notes, ‘you can be a Dalit and be the sevadar or head of a dargah here.’ Friends like Kali find Hans’ latest political bid unfortunate but say it’s in keeping with his political trajectory, ‘A man who called himself a Sufi, sings the verses of Bulleh Shah, now sings the tunes of Hindutva.’ After his speech at Swada, I accompanied Hans on an open truck on his road show through the constituency. I asked him why he’d joined the BJP, and what he thought of its hard-line Hindutva stands. He gave me a stock answer, an answer that had been rehearsed, and betrayed no acknowledgement of the BJP’s reality. ‘The term Sufi is carved in my heart and this is a Sufi party, it is sabka saath, sabka vikaas.’ As for the issues he believed were important, he told me, ‘This election is not about Delhi, this is about the nation. If Modiji becomes PM, the nation will be safe, if the nation is safe, Delhi will be safe, if Delhi is safe, Nangloi will be safe.’ . As the convoy made its way through the JJ clusters in Buddh Bazaar, larger crowds had gathered. And while everyone spoke of how they knew of his music, most of them told me they would back the AAP. Mool Chand Chawla, the election in-charge at the BJP election office in Sector 7, Rohini seemed to admit this when he told me, ‘In our fight with AAP, there were two weak seats, Gautam Gambhir’s and ours but we’ve taken care of it.’ What they mean by addressing it is that they are banking on the fact that Modi’s name may be enough to see Hans through. What Hans can do for them in turn is to pull the crowds, and keep them entertained by singing. ‘We’ve asked him to tweak his songs a little, so he does some desh bhakti geets,’ says a BJP worker. ‘Besides, as you know, these elections are not about MP candidates, they are about Modij’ adds Ashok Bharadwaj, a local businessman who volunteers to work for the BJP during every election without fail. His advertising agency, Aaghaz prints election posters, pamphlets and fliers for all political parties. Bharadwaj makes it a point to tell me what I’ve seen in the JJ clusters and villages does not sum up the entire constituency, ‘Sector, 9, 13, 14 and 8 are very posh areas, we have parks and clubs, a 2BHK flat costs up to 2.75 crore, it’s an area that rivals South Delhi.’ ‘And not just in these but in all of Rohini’s sectors,’ he tells me, ‘ I can assure you most people will vote for Modiji, he’s the only one who represents us.’ ‘Us’ given the context and the mix of the BJP office workers seated around us seems to indicate the affluent, large Hindu upper-caste residents of these sectors. As he finishes speaking, Rashmi Lilgiria, a Marwari fashion designer, joins us. She’s known for her ability to mobilise crowds for election events, drawing on a large number of women who are members of the club she runs. The club organises events to mark festivals like Navratri, Janmashtmi and Teej. She says she’s also looking forward to the day when she can invite Hansraj Hans to perform ‘exclusively for the ladies.’ When he goes, it would be a far cry from the dargah at Nakodar.<doc-sep>New Delhi: The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer has sought the reply of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others for accusing BJP's northwest Delhi candidate, Hans Raj Hans, of converting to Islam in 2014 and claiming he cannot contest the election as the seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) category, officials said Friday. Kejriwal along with minister Rajendra Pal Gautam and AAP candidate Gugan Singh have to send their replies by Saturday 5 pm. A report will be prepared and forwarded to the Election Commission, they said. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and Hans Friday filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi against the AAP leaders, following which the poll body sought replies from Kejriwal, Gautam and Singh, who is pitted against Hans for the reserved seat, the officials said. Reacting to the notice, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said it was widely reported in media that Hans converted to Islam. "It is a clear law that after conversion to Islam, a person cannot take benefits of caste-based reservation. Islam does not acknowledge any caste system, so Hans Raj Hans cannot contest from a seat which is reserved for SC community. This is not just personal manipulation, but also amounts to depriving the SC community of its constitutional rights," he said. In a tweet on Thursday, Kejriwal claimed Hans would be declared ineligible to contest the polls, and urged the voters of North West Delhi not to waste their votes on him. At a press conference the same day, Gautam cited news reports claiming Hans had converted to Islam and that the BJP candidate did not disclose this information in his nomination papers. The BJP candidate, however, denied the charge and said he would have been disowned by his family had he changed his religion. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied ticket to Udit Raj, the sitting MP from North West Delhi, and fielded Hans from the seat. Raj joined the Congress subsequently. Hans is pitted against Rajesh Lilothia of the Congress and Gugan Singh of the AAP from the seat. Polling for all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will be held on May 12 and the results will be announced on May 23.<doc-sep>
With inputs from Sri Krishna, Delhi Dropping its sitting member Udit Raj and fielding a non-filmi Punjabi and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans could make the going tough for BJP, which had won all the seven Delhi seats in 2014. Udit Raj, 58, National Chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations, has now joined the Congress, vowing “not even a single Dalit will vote for the BJP.” AAP leaders, however, have said that Hans Raj Hans cannot contest from this SC-reserved seat since he converted to Islam in 2014. The 2008 delimitation exercise saw North West Delhi came into existence, comprised of the 10 assembly segments of Nerela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Mundka, Kirari, Sultan Pur Majra, Nangloi Jat, Mangol Puri and Rohini. The three-cornered contest is here is between Gugan Singh of AAP, Hans Raj Hans of BJP and Rajesh Lelothia for Congress. As per the Election commission of India (ECI) website the constituency has a total of 2378984 voters. The nominations of 13 candidates from different political parties or standing independently have been accepted by the ECI. 24 nominations have been rejected by the ECI. Note – Map for representation purpose | Source – http://datameet.org 2014 Lok Sabha Elections Incumbent MP: Udit Raj Name of candidate Party Votes secured Vote share (over total votes polled) Udit Raj BJP 6,29,860 46.44 Rakhi Birla AAP 5,22,842 38.65 Krishna Tirath INC 1,57,468 11.61 Basant Panwar BSP 21485 1.58 Source: ECI Know your candidates Hans Raj Hans (BJP) Popular folk singer Hans Raj Hans joined the BJP on 10 December 2016. He replaced Udit Raj, the incumbent MP from North West Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections. Padma Shri awardee Hans Raj Hans, 57, is a rank outsider to the constituency, and has little to talk about in his campaign speeches leaving it to party workers to do the door to door work and banking on Narendra Modi’s popularity. Given his shifting loyalties, from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2009 on whose ticket he contested the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat that May, to the Congress in February 2016 then the BJP later the same year, voters in Delhi may have heard his albums but know little else about him. More details can be found in the affidavit filed with the ECI here https://suvidha.eci.gov.in/uploads/affidavit/2019/PC/U05/5/U0520190424062643.pdf Phone: 98115155555 E-mail: hansrajhans786@gmail.com Financial details of candidate Year Assets Liabilities 2019 Movable Rs. 16107732 Immovable Rs. 114830000 Rs. 45508094 Source: MyNeta Gugan Singh Ranga (AAP) Gugan Singh, 70, of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a former member of the state assembly on a BJP ticket joined AAP in 2017 and is well known in the constituency. His manifesto promises farmer welfare in this predominantly rural constituency located at the periphery of the national capital. Gugan Singh is a local face and appears to be the front runner with his added emphasis on education and health. A prominent Dalit face among voters in the outer areas of this constituency, Gugan Singh is finding support among villagers who are hoping for better amenities and overall development from AAP. More details can be found in the affidavit filed with the ECI here. Phone: 9212731618 E-mail: gugansinghranga007@yahoo.com Facebook: gugansinghranga007 Financial details of candidate Year Assets Liabilities 2019 Movable Rs. 5053787 Immovable Rs. 7800000 NIL Source: MyNeta Rajesh Lilothia (INC) Congress candidate Rajesh Lelothia, 50, is also a well known face in this constituency, having been a two-time member of the Delhi assembly and is currently working president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. A long time Congress worker who has held various positions in the party, Lelothia is targeting Udit Raj’s support base, the Dalits, promising to work specially for Dalits, cleaning workers and women’s safety. More details can be found in the affidavit filed with the ECI here. Phone: 9811100463 E-mail: rajesh.lilothia@gmail.com Facebook: rajeshlilothiamla Financial details of candidate Year Assets Liabilities 2019 Movable Rs. 11556251 Immovable Rs. 329 lakhs NIL Source: MyNeta Full list of candidates contesting from North West Delhi Serial No. Name Of Candidate Address of Candidate Party Affiliation Symbol Allotted 1 ISHWAR MANSUKH ISHU 428,BLOCK-C,PHASE-II,NANGLOI , DELHI- 110041 Satya Bahumat Party Black Board 2 GAURAV BHATIA R-36, BLOCK-R , CAMP NO- 5,JAWALAPURI, NEW DELHI-110087 Mazdoor Kirayedar Vikas Party Gas Cylinder 3 MADAN LAL BALMIKI C-133,DDA FLATS, NEW RANJEET NAGAR,NEAR SATYAM CINEMA, NEW DELHI-11008 Rashtriya Samrasta Party Laptop 4 RAM KUMAR H.N.