My First Padyatra in Matunga :)

I took a day off from my world of Internet Banking, ATMs and Debit Cards and went on a tour of Matunga and Hindu Colony on foot. There were three objectives which I wanted to achieve through this.

(1) To visit the office of the Local BMC Corporator. I had managed to find his name and contact details on the Internet and had called him the previous week. After not answering the phone about 10 times, he answered and asked me to visit his office and fill up a form to register myself as a worker of the party. This would give me good experience in the activities conducted at a grass root level which according to one of the officers was blood donation camps, distributing gifts amongst the under privileged etc. (this would be especially useful given the feedback I had received in the discussions and interviews) I have collected the form, but could not submit it as address proof and photographs were required. I will complete the modalities by first week March, after which I hopefully would be able to play a more active part in the civic activities in the area.

(2) To visit the Ward Office of the F-North Ward of which Matunga and Dadar are a part. On the Internet you get all the data upto an assembly constituency level right down to the polling booths, but you do not get any data at the Ward level. I need to study the electoral boundaries of the F North Ward and the 10 divisions it has and I wanted to visit the Ward Office in this regard. I would also get to see how a ward office looks and try to get an idea of what happens there. The Ward Office is an old building on Bhau Daji Road which is near Kings Circle. Till this day, I had to rarely enter a Government Office and if at all, I always had an appointment with someone. The concept of being bounced from table to table was alien to me and I had experienced it for the first time today. The watchman / policeman at the entrance redirected me to the Complaints Department, they in turn to the Maintenance Department. In the Maintenance Department, I was passed like a ping pong ball from table to table until I was directed to an officer who was on leave and coincidentally he was the only one who had the map of F North Ward. Else I had to get it from the Head Office in Byculla or the Collectors Office. I am still searching for the F North Ward map, of anybody knows where I can get it, do let me know. I am hoping to get it by mid March to proceed further on the backend analysis while my frontend meetings continue.

(3) I wanted to observe the Matunga, Kings Circle, Hindu Colony and Parsi Colony Area closely. Observing is very different from jus walking down the street taking in the fresh air, it is being observant to all the things around you which all of us ignore given the pressures we are faced with in our day to day lives. I had a good time and spent 3 hours walking around taking a close look at the traffic congestion, hawkers and their wares, cleanliness on the roads and comparison of these roads to other parts of Mumbai, checking out the police station & post office and the ratio of policemen to population – you are not just walking but trying to analyse what you see and drawing conclusions from that and making note of them – it is like opening up another sense which you had kept blocked all these days. I rewarded myself with a coffee at Café Mysore at the end of it. I also went into the VJTI and sat in my Third Year and Fourth Year Classroom from where I had contested my first elections for Class Representative and got some much needed motivation that I could pull this off in the long run.

So to summarise, I have started taking some baby steps forward ….. let’s see where they take me.

Back to Group Discussions and Interviews

After having identified the target geography, I started fixing up appointments and meetings with people who have lived in the area for more than 10 years. I was very particular about not meeting people I knew and most were references from friends and some contacts given by my family. As I write this on 28th Feb, I have completed about 5 such meetings and have many more in the pipleline. I usually do it on weekends and hope to keep up with this practice right upto the time I contest. It is obviously tough juggling it with a 5.5 day workweek, but what the heck – it is what I dreamt about.

The objective of these meetings was two-fold, first to understand the local / regional /national issues which drive the voting preferences in the Matunga & Dadar area and then to ask people what I needed to do in terms of activities, experience to become a viable alternative and get people to support me. The people I spoke to was in no way a representative sample of the area but definitely gave me good insights which will guide me forward. The key discussion points are summarised below

Issues Driving Voting Preferences of People

(1) Not even 1 of the 5 groups I spoke to, knew the name of their Municipal Corporator and most did not know the MLA as well
(2) The voting preference is very much driven by the National party and people are likely to vote for a particular party because they like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Manmohan Singh and not because of the local issues which Corporators / MLAs are expected to solve
(3) The qualifications and ability of the candidates are absolute non issues and so is their criminal record, only the party they belong to makes a difference (at least in 80% of the cases)
(4) There is negligible awareness of the role of the Corporator and what an effective Corporator can get done for the ward (I will have to start at the basics as the very fundamentals of our electoral system which is the 3 tiers of Government as If people do not understand this, they will not be able to appreciate why I think I can make a difference)
(5) People are more comfortable with the mainstream parties, rather than vote for any good effective independent candidate as the ability of the independent candidate is doubted to get the bureaucratic system to work for them. Some went to the extent of saying that they do not mind working for proven criminals as they are able to get the work done
(6) Civic Issues in the Matunga & Dadar Areas as highlighted in the discussions were the current water problems, traffic problems emanating from the bridge & metro construction, crowding and development of the five garden area and improvement in the condition of roads
(7) The issues at the assembly level are also similar and again the national party drives the voting patterns in most cases – while people are broadly aware they do not know the specific differences between the 3 tiers of Governments which is the Municipal Corporation, State Assemblies and Central Governments

What can I do to present a more viable alternative?

This was a fun discussion where in some cases I was flatly told that I cannot become a viable alternative and not to ruin my life by trying to step into public life

(1) The unanimous response was that you need to join a political party if you have to get support, there is no hope for independent outfits / people
(2) An understanding of the grass-root level issues is necessary and some experience in the constituency is a must. This is required more from the point of showing that you know how to get the system working and have a handle on things in the constituency. The independent candidate will need to put in at least 20 times the effort to get the same result
(3) The nice guy attitude will not work, you need to be brutal and a part of the system to get work done and people know that nice guys may have heaps of good intent but will mostly be ineffective spectators in the political arena – so to put it simply, you do not stand a chance – and no matter what you say, we will not support you

I am just presenting the verbatim comments I received above and am reserving my inferences and interpretations for later, which I will arrive at after speaking to many many more people. However, after this first round of meetings I am definitely more kicked about what I am trying to undertake and think I am approaching it the right way by getting on the ground and speaking to people. The faster my incorrect notions are dispelled the better. I have time on my hand and if necessary 5 to 7 years is a long enough time to change mindsets, however cast in stone the mindsets might be.

Finding a Constituency

If I am ever to fight an election (and as I need to start at the grassroots), I need to identify the constituency / ward from where I will contest. Keeping the spirit of the Representation of Peoples Act in mind, it is recommended that I contest from a place where my issues, problems, aspirations etc match that of the electorate. I need to think like them, identify with them, understand their issues etc. Given that all my life I have stayed in Mumbai, I cannot represent anyone else.

I have lived in Bandra East, studied in Mahim, Matunga and Dadar. 90% of my life in Mumbai has been in these localities. I have roamed through the chappa chappa of these areas and know the gallis and roads like the back of my hand. I have been in these areas at the time of massive floods, terrorist attacks, Mumbai riots and Twenty Twenty World Cup Wins, so I think I have good idea of how people think and react and the underlying character of these areas.

I think the literacy levels in these areas are much higher than the rest of Mumbai, slum population is minimal (other than Bandra which pretty much rules out my chances of contesting from there) and is mostly populated by middle class families having similar ideals and dreams as my family – and in my view that is very important and in the true principles of a representative democracy (unlike several leaders who contest from a constituency without ever having visited that place before, Bellary and Vidisha being a case in point)

So I have reached the obvious conclusion, that I will mostly contest as an MLA or a BMC Corporator from the Bandra, Matunga, Dadar and Mahim belt of Mumbai – I need to zero in on the actual constituency or ward but that will happen only after doing a detailed analysis of the constituency maps, demographics analysis of the slum population (who will mostly not relate to what I want to say) and the analysis of the previous voting trends. (you may be surprised that most of this data is available in the public domain on the Internet and I have already got a hand on most of it). I have also reached the conclusion that I need to contest the BMC election first before assembly as I just need to work on about seventy five thousand people and I have better chances to zero in on the perfect ward where I can maximize my chances.

My objective is to very clearly to get a foothold into a system and then work up from there and over time get more similar minded people to join me. I can approach this as an independent or as a member of a political party, a decision which I will needs to take shortly, and which will be a key factor the course I chart in future.