Located in Mandir Marg, in the heart of central Delhi, the Maharishi Valmiki Mandir has played an important, if symbolic, role in Indian politics.
Between 1946 and 1947, Mahatma Gandhi spent 214 days living in a room in the temple complex. At the time, the Valmikis were a severely marginalised community, but Gandhi spent time with them. He ate the food they prepared, held classes for the children of Valmiki colonies and swept the courtyard with a broom. For the Valmikis, who found themselves restricted to jobs of sweepers and sanitation workers, it signalled not just an acceptance, but also an acknowledgement of their importance.
In 2013, Arvind Kejriwal launched the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election symbol, the broom, from the same Valmiki temple. As a symbolic gesture, Kejriwal and others from AAP cleaned the Valmiki colony. “The broom symbolises that the time has come to clean up the politics of the country. It will become our weapon from now on,” said Kejriwal. Dheeraj, a resident of Valmiki colony who works as a sanitation worker at New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), said, “We were enamored by Kejriwal’s gesture of choosing our broom as his party’s symbol. No political party had ever given this kind of respect to us.”
Since then, offering prayers at the Valmiki temple before filing nomination papers has become a customary ritual for the AAP supremo and former chief minister of Delhi. However, ahead of Delhi’s assembly elections, scheduled to be held on February 5, it seems Kejriwal and AAP have lost some ground with the Valmiki community. “This time, the BJP is more proactive in appealing to Valmiki voters,” said Jyoti, a resident of the Valmiki colony near the temple. On nomination day, BJP’s candidate Parvesh Verma, who is contesting against Kejriwal, arrived at the temple 15 minutes earlier than Kejriwal. Jyoti pointed out, “Verma has visited our temple more times than Kejriwal.”
The symbol of the broom
According to the Census of 2011, scheduled castes form 16 percent of Delhi’s population. Out of which Jatavs (38 percent) and Valmikis (22 percent) are two main sub castes. In the assembly elections of 2015 and 2020, AAP swept all 12 reserved seats in Delhi. The party enjoyed significantly higher vote share among all sections of Dalits as compared to rival parties and in 2015, its biggest support came from the Valmikis, many of whom work as sanitation workers and have to do manual scavenging.
Until 2015, the Valmiki community was considered a Congress stronghold. Perhaps in an effort to make a dent in AAP’s vote share, on January 20, Congress’s general secretary Jairam Ramesh described Kejriwal and AAP as possessing “an anti-Dalit mentality” when priests of Valmiki and Ravidas temples were not included in AAP’s honorarium scheme.
That the Valmiki community’s vote is of critical importance is also evident from the contest that is underway between AAP and BJP to win their favour.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Valmiki temple before launching the Swachh Bharat campaign. Like Kejriwal, he picked up the broom and was photographed sweeping the street with uniformed sweepers from NDMC. That same year, when Kejriwal decided to contest against the PM in the Lok Sabha elections, he received a rousing welcome from a large crowd of Valmikis, carrying brooms, at Varanasi railway station.
The broom as a symbol for AAP was chosen by Cheena Maharaj, popular guru in the Valmiki community and priest at the Valmiki mandir. Dheeraj said, “Kejriwal considered Cheena Maharaj as his guru. He requested Kejriwal to choose a girl from our community as a minister and Kejriwal selected Rakhi Birla. It was the first time a girl from our community became a minister.” A decade later, the question is as Dinesh Kumar put it: “Where is Rakhi Birla these days? Why is she not at the forefront any more like Atishi? We feel AAP has sidelined her.”
Dheeraj voiced the discontent in his community when he said of Kejriwal, “Jhaadu waalo ko jhaadu dikha ke loot liya (He looted us by showing us our broom).”
AAP’s Pujari-Granthi Samman Yojna
Speaking to residents of the Valmiki colony near the temple, one can feel a sense of frustration with AAP, which has been governing Delhi for the past 12 years. Jyoti said, “Kejriwal has made bus travel free for women. This helps women from the working class like me save some money. But we have not got any relief in electricity bills. Because for the past many months, we have been receiving inflated power bills.”
The increased cost of utilities is a serious problem that affects the Valmikis sharply because the community predominantly belongs to a low income bracket. “Last month, we got an electricity bill of Rs 7,000 despite our family sharing this one room quarter. It is a huge share of our small earnings,” said Sandhya, who is from another Valmiki colony in Rajendra Nagar. “Now AAP is promising they will give women Rs 2,100. I have registered for the scheme because I have some faith in AAP as they made buses free for women. But I am not sure if Rs 2,100 is practical for all women,” she said.
Jyoti pointed out that free bus rides for women don’t compensate for the absence of jobs. Her husband, Sudhanshu, has been working as a contractual worker with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), but AAP has not been able to regularise his job. With people in the same boat as her, Jyoti believes BJP has “an edge”. In a community that is predominantly employed as sanitation workers, Home Minister Amit Shah handing over offer letters regularising 4,400 NDMC employees in May 2023 was an important gesture. “This is what we want. Before the 2022 MCD polls, AAP had promised that they will make us permanent. Now it has been two years but they have not lived up to the expectations,” said Dinesh Kumar.
AAP’s proposed honorarium scheme, the Pujari-Granthi Samman Yojna, which would give a stipend to temple priests (but not those of Valmiki and Ravidas temples) and granthis from gurudwaras if they come to power has also raised hackles. In Valmiki colonies of New Delhi, Rajendra Nagar and Karol Bagh, Newslaundry found the scheme is not popular with Valmiki voters. Sanitation worker Vishal Kumar said, “On top of everything, Kejriwal is now promising Rs 18,000 a month to Brahmin priests. What’s the need of it? Don’t they already earn enough?”
Dheeraj questioned Kejriwal’s use of the financial resources available to him. “Recently, two manual scavengers died in Mangolpuri and their families have not received a single penny. But he [Kejriwal] has money for priests and women,” he said.
BJP and the Valmiki vote
Historically, AAP voters have seen assembly elections as a question of Delhi’s governance. A study by Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) from 2020 found that three of every five of those who otherwise support BJP have favoured AAP because of the latter’s performance record in Delhi. The survey found that AAP’s support base was an umbrella coalition of castes and communities.
A post poll survey of the assembly election of 2020 conducted by CSDS showed that of all scheduled caste (SC) communities, AAP’s biggest fall came amongst Valmiki voters. In contrast, BJP recorded an increase.
According to Sushant (Goldy), BJP’s Karol Bagh district convener, the party is benefiting from a rise in anti-incumbency. “Until five years ago, we would not even have workers from the Valmiki community. They were too obsessed with AAP,” he said, adding that now BJP not only has Valmiki workers, but Valmikis seem more open to listening to the party’s messaging.
With its at least 500 SC workers per assembly constituency, BJP has laid out a focussed outreach campaign for 30 assembly constituencies, including Delhi’s 12 reserved seats, where the voters range from 17 to 45 percent of the electorate.
BJP’s SC Morcha organises weekly Anusuchit Jaati Gaurav Samman Sammelan at the assembly level along with baithaks by booth level heads at ward level and a door-to-door campaign for community targeted voter mobilisation. Out of the 5,600 polling booths in this area, the party has a special focus on 1,900 booths.
Rajesh Lavadiya, state general secretary of BJP’s SC Morcha, said, “In these programmes, we talk about how we have given tickets to new Dalit faces and they are working for their community. For instance, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, is a Jatav and BJP’s candidate from Karol Bagh and he had built a Ravidas temple in the area. Our MP Yogendra Chandolia, from Regar community, was an MCD mayor and he had regularised sanitation workers.”
For its outreach campaign, BJP has roped in 55 Dalit leaders, including former Union ministers and members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. The party has also identified 3,500 prominent community leaders, with political influence in their neighbourhoods, to deepen the outreach campaign. Ten Dalit workers have been assigned to each polling booth, for person-to-person contact.
Additionally, Jaati Samman Sammelans are being held at the assembly level to underscore the importance given by BJP to representation. “For instance, to mobilise the Valmiki community, we have Rajya Sabha MPs like Sumitra Balmik, Umesh Nath from Madhya Pradesh and Lok Sabha MP Anook Balmiki from Hathras,” said Sushant. “So far, the party has not promised Valmikis that they will solve all their issues, like no permanent jobs or deaths in sewers. But our motto is to communicate to them that we are the only party who has given political representation to them,” he added.
For its outreach campaign, BJP has roped in 55 Dalit leaders, including former Union ministers and members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. The party has also identified 3,500 prominent community leaders, with political influence in their neighbourhoods, to deepen the outreach campaign. Ten Dalit workers have been assigned to each polling booth, for person-to-person contact.
The deciding vote
At the moment, BJP’s trump card could also be a Supreme Court judgement from August 2024, in which the court said states could create sub-classifications within reserved categories to address how certain sections among SCs and scheduled tribes have benefited more than others.
In the run up to assembly elections in Haryana in 2024, the BJP had announced that if it comes to power it will implement the judgement in the state. It gave nine out of 17 reserved tickets to deprived scheduled castes, a non-dominant and more deprived caste group amongst Dalits. The party won four more reserved seats than it had in the assembly elections of 2019.
Several organisations working for deprived scheduled caste communities, which had mobilised in support of the SC judgement, are demanding a similar sub-classification for Delhi.
Jaswinder Pahalwan, national convenor of Bali Sena, a Dalit outfit which claims to have 12,000 Valmiki members in Delhi, said, “In August last year, when Chandrashekhar Azad’s party had taken out rallies opposing SC’s judgement, we had taken out rallies at Jantar Mantar supporting it. In Haryana, we ensured that it can have an electoral impact.” Pahalwan said that Bali Sena “started mobilising voters” for BJP in Haryana. Since BJP has not made any announcement about sub-classifications in Delhi, Pahalwan said his community was still undecided about who to support.
For Lakhan Singh of Rashtriya Jhadu Manch, an outfit that works on issues linked to sanitation workers, it is clear that Valmikis should support BJP. “Our community was emotionally attached to Kejriwal,” he said. “Not just because of his broom symbol. AAP was the only party to ever release a manifesto for Dalits. But he has not implemented his promises and we are feeling cheated.”
For Lakhan Singh, the decision to implement SC’s judgement in Haryana has been a deciding factor. “Everyday we get calls from people of our community (asking) to whom we should lend our support. Earlier we were thinking of going for NOTA (none of the above), but then we saw that in Haryana the BJP implemented SC’s judgement. We want the same in Delhi. And for that we have more faith in BJP than other parties.”
As BJP’s district coordinator, Sushant hopes non-Jatav voters will realise that they are both politically significant and more likely to get representation from BJP. He said, “In Haryana, our community proved that we can turn around the election. Though I believe the BJP should have given more tickets to Valmikis than Jatavs this time, I believe they are still better than other parties in terms of representation. For instance, from the North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, they made Yogendra Chandolia an MP. He was just a mayor before the BJP gave him a ticket. But he is a good leader and first from the Regar caste to be ever elected as an MP from Delhi. It means a lot for non-Jatav voters.” (Regars have traditionally worked as leatherworkers, making belts, shoes and handbags, and a minority amongst Dalits in Delhi.)
In order to retain AAP’s voters, Kejriwal, who won by 21,000 votes in the last election, has announced a housing welfare scheme for sanitation workers and other welfare schemes. He’ll be hoping that these convince the Valmikis, who not only comprise a significant percentage of Dalit votes in Delhi, but also number about 25,000 votes in New Delhi constituency.
Issuing a promise that was also a warning, Dheeraj said of Kejriwal, “Valmikis made him CM and now we will show him his place.”
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