Promises, Potholes and Political Pandemonium: Shaheen Bagh’s Journey Through Neglect

‘Bahut tagda jaam hai.’

On our way to reporting on the ground situation in Shaheen Bagh, we were caught up in one of those nerve wracking traffic congestions that characterises the mad furore of the election season. The young boy, hardly 25 years of age, who was driving us towards Thokar No. 8, had a look of resignation, even, as he conjectured, out aloud, that the cause of the hold-up could be an election rally.

On reaching Shaheen Bagh, we noticed that several roads and alleyways had been dug up. Old people, with their ungainly steps, and the young, with their reckless vaults, all trying to navigate mounds of soil, debris, and the general waste and refuse piled up along the corners that have become typical of every other lane in and around Shaheen Bagh. It’s almost poetic that politicians promise to build wider roads and smoother commutes while their own rally cars inch through potholes and dug-up lanes as if the universe itself is saying, ‘Here’s your development, folks!’

The lack of civic amenities in the neighbourhood is appalling, and this isn’t something new. The area also suffers from a persistent drainage issue. Waterlogged streets have become the norm for local residents and students, especially in monsoon. Additionally, they complained that the civic authorities seem to demonstrate a complete disregard for solving the drainage issues. With the area already struggling with poor infrastructure, the recent poorly planned and delayed drainage cleaning work, timed suspiciously around the election season, has made life even harder for students and residents of Shaheen Bagh. This rushed and poorly managed effort has worsened traffic chaos and added to the daily struggles of the community, leaving everyone frustrated and inconvenienced.

It is normal, according to Sana, a PhD student at Jamia Millia Islamia, to get cut off from running water on days at the end. She also claimed that it becomes difficult for her to arrange for Uber and other app-based cab services, especially in the context of helping her ailing parents commute to the medical centre. Drivers have been known to cancel rides or make demands to their customers to travel some way to a more desirable pick-up location, to escape the dug-up roads as well as the congestion. In the matter of sick patients, or the elderly, who require urgent medical attention, this might become a matter of life and death.

The roads, which are in a perennial state of ruin, affect not only the residents, but also local shop owners, who complained that the alleys, when dug up and left uncovered, dissuade customers from visiting their shops. A medicine shopkeeper, who identified himself as Md. Shafiullah, claimed that the abysmally slow process of renovation of roads also compel his regular customers to opt for home delivery at times.

A group of children, scurrying around a basement parking area of a building, also spoke to us and confirmed that the roads are almost always in a state of neglect. The school van, which comes to pick one of them up in the morning, has to come up with innovative ways to bypass the damaged stretches of the road. This results in lots of detours, which, of course, keep changing from time to time. Moreover, the children highlighted the fact that they have no access to a playground where they can congregate for their daily recreation, which is why they are compelled to play on the damaged roads themselves. This is an issue of public safety that goes unheeded by the authorities. Accidents might happen at any moment, resulting in someone falling over into a ditch or a sewer, both of which occur in abundance in the neighbourhood.

A man selling cushion and pillow covers by the side of the Mandi, informed us, with a wry smile, that the roads had been renovated recently, within 3-4 weeks of the Delhi elections. On moving further down the road, we were greeted by the sight of huge puddles of water. The squelch of mud and filth, under the chaotic trample of a wave of people; with only the election in sight. The observations conducted around the local mandi revealed a significant disparity between the lived realities of Shaheen Bagh residents and the perceptions and promises propagated by authorities regarding the provision of day-to-day amenities and the assurance of a decent standard of living. The findings underscore a gap between policy commitments and on-ground implementation, highlighting systemic inefficiencies in addressing the basic infrastructural and socio-economic needs of the community.

At the point where the ‘High Tension Road’, as it is called by locals, merges into the 40 Futa Road, a makeshift pipeline system deposits a continuous flow of sewage water into an open manhole. All this, across the street from an Aam Aadmi Party centre.

Sunil Kumar, a local vegetable vendor operating daily along the 40-foot road, expressed a sentiment of disillusionment, asserting that the previous constituency represented by Areeba Khan had failed to meet the expectations of the community. His statement, “Kuch kaam na honey se acha hai ki kuch toh ho” (It is better to have some work done than none at all), encapsulates the resigned and weary outlook prevalent among the local populace. This reflects a broader sense of dissatisfaction with the perceived lack of substantive progress or tangible outcomes under the previous leadership, underscoring a desire for even minimal improvements over continued inaction.

At another makeshift counter, two young men were assisting local residents in obtaining election slips. They predicted that Amanatullah Khan, the incumbent MLA from the Okhla constituency, would win a large share of the votes for the Aam Aadmi Party, largely to keep the BJP at bay. When questioned about the perceived lack of support and apparent indifference exhibited by the Aam Aadmi Party in addressing hate crimes against Muslims on a national level, the responses and demeanour of those interviewed indicated a pragmatic, albeit reluctant, stance. The prevailing sentiment suggested that the constituency views its electoral choice as a strategic decision between suboptimal options. The primary concern appears to be the containment of Hindutva nationalism, as propagated by the Bharatiya Janata Party, even if it entails aligning with a party perceived as inadequately responsive to issues affecting minority communities. This reflects a broader calculus of prioritizing the mitigation of what is seen as a greater threat over the pursuit of an ideal political representation.

A major question that arises at the very start of the Delhi elections is whether a change in government will bring any real improvement to neglected localities; or whether the indifference towards issues faced by Muslims, especially those living in ghettos, has become so deeply rooted in India’s political system that they are seen only as a vote bank for opposition parties. Whatever the results, it seems unlikely that Shaheen Bagh will see an immediate makeover after the elections. This is evident through the accounts of the several people we spoke to, as well as from our personal observations, both of which belie the ‘development’ that electing candidates have promised the residents, upon a capture of the majority votes. The prospect of tangible development and infrastructural upliftment in these neglected urban peripheries remains a distant mirage, as political discourse continues to instrumentalize their demographic weight while perpetuating cycles of exclusion and socio-economic stagnation.

The writer Fatima Zohra is a 2nd year MA Gender Studies student and Prantik Ali is a 2nd year MA English student at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited By: Gunjit Verma