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The Mandal messiah's on the comeback trail

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

Former prime minister V P Singh today announced that he will participate in a political rally to be held at the historic Red Fort grounds on May 16. Moreover, he also declared that he would participate in a rath yatra to protest against the government's demolition drive.

Singh made this announcement at a press conference held at his residence in New Delhi. He said that in this move to prevent the government's demolition drive that was deprived the poor of housing, he would be joined by other like-minded parties like the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India.

The anti-demolition rally is clearly V P Singh's political comeback plank. On the night of March 24, V P Singh spent the night with the hutment dwellers of the Wazirpur Industrial Area, the latest target of the Delhi Municipal Corporation.

He later told rediff.com that globalisation and liberalisation process had left out the poor.

"Our aim is to bring the poor back on the government's agenda from where it has been pushed out. Everyone talks about the market, but this market will hit and cut us," he said.

In his address to the media earlier, Singh flayed the Union government's effort to drive slum dwellers out of their settlements without first providing them with alternate accommodation. He said that while the present anti-demolition drive was limited to Delhi, it would soon acquire an all-India character.

"We are demanding... that there should be an official policy before the hutments are demolished. They [the hutment-dwellers] must be first given an alternate residence and then moved out, or a building can be built for them on the very grounds where they reside. This building can house all the people and also have extra space for the building developer to sell commercially," he said.

He said that, according to media reports, a slum demolition drive in Bombay had irked the World Bank, which has threatened to stop providing the loans unless the slum-dwellers were properly rehabilitated. "Even the pope of market reforms, the World Bank, has criticised these demolition drives," he said.

"There must be a transparent policy for the poor in terms of rehabilitation and settlement. You cannot come down one night and uproot them, and our rally and rath yatra is to protest against this insensitive drives," he said.

Singh took pains to point out that he was not against the middle-class people. "These very hutment people provide the essential services to the middle-class. Often in middle-class homes where both the husband and wife are working, they need the services of such people to run their house efficiently. Hence our move seeks to help both the poor and the middle-class," he said.

The former prime minister said that instead of calling the hutments jhuggi jhopdis (slums), it would be more dignified to call them mazdoor bastis (workers' residences). "After all, these people live in these bastis simply to be able to work in the city," he said.

Singh said that he had met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in this regard and had been promised that no more slums would be demolished until an alternate residence was provided.

Moreover, Urban Development Minister Jagmohan too had promised to find a suitable alternative place.

"But we insist that any such alternate settlement area cannot be far away from the city so that it becomes impossible for the people to travel to work everyday. It must be near enough for them to commute to work daily, otherwise both the poor and the middle-class will suffer," added Singh.

In his press conference, Singh was flanked by CPI-M leader Brinda Karat, and Janata Dal leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Rabi Ray. Karat said the protest was against the process of globalisation that had destroyed the village economy, forcing people to shift to the cities.

"A study has shown that while in the 1970s and 1980s, four per cent of the villagers migrated to cities, in the 1990s, the figure is seven per cent," she said.

The CPI-M leader said wrong economic policies had driven people to cities in search of jobs. And these people had settled in the slums, she said. Their hutments, in turn, upset the city-dwellers, who sought to have them demolished.

"In the villages, these poor people have no jobs, in the cities they have no place to stay," she said.

Another aspect that the rath yatra and rally will focus on is the need to provide the poor people with ration cards. "Can you believe this but in the entire Delhi city, no one has a red ration card. This is because the officials are not keen on providing such cards," he claimed.

A red ration card entitles the family to a 50 per cent discount on essential commodities, other ration cards give a much lower discount.

Singh later told rediff.com that the government must draw up a holistic plan to ensure that the villagers don't migrate to the cities in search of jobs.

Asked if he was re-entering politics, he smiled. "Let us see how the people react to our rallies, and we will take it from there. We have only planned for the next two months, nothing beyond," he said.

Was he against liberalisation?

"What you are witnessing is that liberalisation has harmed the poor, and we are speaking up on their behalf," Singh said.

Vrinda Karat was more forthright. "We clearly believe that the state cannot withdraw from everything, that it still has a role to play in the areas concerning the poor. The state must be involved," she said.

While it is too early to predict a political realignment of the non-BJP, non-Congress forces, Singh certainly is active despite his kidney ailment that necessitates him undergoing dialysis regularly. Observers say that his health has improved in recent times.

Singh will also be participating in a public meeting at Ghaziabad on and Agra in April while a massive turnout is expected for the Red Fort rally.

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