By Zafar Aafaq / Scroll
Like anywhere else in the city these days, the sight of e-rickshaws mounted with loudspeakers and party flags in the lanes and bylanes of North East Delhi’s Subash Mohalla is common. Campaign songs tear through the din in the market, filled with shops decorated with party paraphernalia.
The national capital is going to the polls on Sunday in order to elect a new municipal government. This comes more than two years after the northeastern parts of the city saw intense communal violence in the aftermath of protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Of the 53 people who were killed in the rioting, 36 were Muslim – including two from Subhash Mohalla.
The Subhash Mohalla seat – Ward 233 – is reserved for women. However, campaign materials of every party carry photos of the husbands of the candidates. Fighting the election for the BJP in the ward is Manisha Poonia. But it is her husband, Ashish Poonia who serves both as the main strategist as well as the face of the campaign.
Poonia’s anti-Muslim image
Poonia, is the district president of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, in Shahdara, the district that Subhash Mohalla is located in. Muslim residents accuse him of taking part in riots and he is allegedly seen in a video throwing a petrol bomb at the house of 58-year-old Mohammad Saleem.
Both the Congress and AAP point to allegations of Poonia participating in rioting and argue that he has the image of a criminal. “There is a photo of him viral on social media where he has two guns tucked in his pants,” said Mohammad Dilshad, AAP’s coordinator in Subhash Mohalla. “People know he is a goonda.”
The BJP, however, rejects allegations that the memory of the 2020 riots will affect voting. “We will get votes from both Hindus as well as Muslims,” said Rahul Paan, the party’s coordinator in Subhash Mohalla. “Everyone has the right to fight elections – it is the people that will decide. After all, Ashish Poonia worked during the pandemic. People remember that.”
But is Punia’s goonda taint and the accusations of participating in riots going to affect his chances? Ishrak Ali, a Subhash Mohalla resident and BJP loyalist argues that the communal divide in the area might actually see these accusations help him. “Isn’t this what Hindus want?” Ali asked. “That is why they will vote for him. That is why he has been given this ticket. He doesn’t even need Muslim votes.”
Muslim vote
For the Muslims of North East Delhi, the wounds of the riots are still fresh. They recall the absence of political parties during and after riots with disappointment.
This story was originally published in scroll.in . Read the full story here