Four liquor shops, one dispensary, one government school and no bank tells the story of development in the Mustafabad assembly segment which has a population of three lakhs. In a bizarre remark, Hasan Ahmed, who is on a sticky wicket for February 7 polls, is attacking his own party and the erstwhile UPA government for the plight of the assembly segment in the North-East Delhi he has represented since 2008.
Ahmed is facing a tough fight to retain this seat as in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP surged ahead in this segment while the traditional Muslim Congress voters appear to be shifting towards the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“No parks, no community centres, no public transport. Mustafabad does not even have a bank. It is the most unusual thing to happen at least in Delhi. But when it comes to wine shops, we are number one. We have four registered wine shops here,” said Ravi Shakya, who runs a grocery store in the area. The constituency has only one government school with a capacity of 300-350 students in a population of around 3 lakh people.
The Muslim-dominated constituency was carved out after delimitation in 2008 and mostly comprises of unauthorised colonies. There is absence of private schools even.
The education system and civic amenities in the assembly segment is in dire straits and these are the issues which are set to impact the voting behavior in the February 7 Delhi polls. “The standard of education is poorest as we don’t have enough schools. Children are forced to sit at home as a big section of the people cannot afford to get their kids enrolled in private schools because of their high fees. We need at least four MCD schools and three higher secondary schools to shape our children’s future,” said Jagdish Pradhan, BJP candidate from Mustafabad.
The area was represented by Hasan Ahmed since 2008 who is again contesting for the third time as a Congress candidate.
“The area comes in one among 90 minority districts identified by UPA government and fund was to be allotted under Multi-sectoral Development Programmes (MsDP) for development of the minority districts. We did not receive any amount from the Centre. The UPA government did not utilise those funds for the development and that was why people had rejected the Congress (in Lok Sabha polls),” said Ahmed, criticising the erstwhile government of his own party.
In the bizarre remark, Ahmed not only blamed his own party’s erstwhile government but also virtually refused to take any responsibility for the plight of the backward assembly segment which he had represented since 2008. He talked about one dispensary that was opened last year only.
In the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP had emerged as the largest party on this seat by getting 56,979 votes, that is a worrying factor for the Congress. Besides that AAP’s Haji Yunus has stepped up efforts to convince the people about the “futility” of voting the Congress as in any case the party is not going to form the government in Delhi.
“The people had voted for the Congress in 2013 as they were of the opinion that their MLA would be a member of the ruling party but now the situation has changed and people will now prefer AAP,” said Yunus, a resident of Mustafabad.