“I have worked with Indira Gandhi, and I know.” The frail voice of Sangram Singh, 76, stands out as a group of men engages in a discussion about the probable election result and its implications. The venue: right outside the Congress headquarters at Akbar Road, New Delhi.
“He never forgets to mention that he worked with Indira ji,” says Bhagat, who, like Singh, sells Congress stickers, flags and posters. “The Congress cannot be kept out of power for too long. I have seen the party fall, and stand up, and fall again. I will see it rise,” Singh, who worked as a peon at the Congress headquarters from 1969 till his retirement in 2011, says a day ahead of the results.
Inside the headquarters, the focus is more on the present. Will Digvijaya Singh win against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Pragya Singh Thakur? Are the exit poll numbers real? With some hours still to go before the results start flashing, Congress is trying to stay positive. “We expect better numbers. What matters is the actual result. We are highly optimistic,” Vineet Punia, secretary of the communications department of the Congress, points out.
Punia refuses to talk numbers.
It’s a contrasting picture at the BJP’s recently constructed plush central office at Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Marg. “Over 300,” says the party’s national spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal when asked about the expected tally. The HQ has already started decking up for the big day. Security is in place, media persons are all over, and tea is never in short supply. There’s little doubt that celebrations have already begun for BJP.
“Our ground work has been strong. We have reached out to the people and they have responded,” Agarwal says. He’s even ready to talk about the BJP’s plans after it assumes office. “Economy is an important area we will work on… The BJP will work towards making India a Rs 5 trillion economy by 2024.”
Even in the celebratory mood, any mention of West Bengal makes the party functionaries cautious. “I can tell you that mid-level leaders are not comfortable going there…. Even senior leaders face trouble there,” says a party official, requesting anonymity. There was violence during and after a road show by BJP President Amit Shah in Kolkata last week. “The Bengal government has muzzled the voice of the people. Kintu aar noy (But not any more). It is now a fight between the Bengal government and the people. Besides, Hindu votes in the state have consolidated like never before. You will see the results on Thursday, we will win 20 seats there,” Mukul Roy, once Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s go-to man, who switched allegiance to the BJP in 2017, tells Business Standard.
Not far from the BJP headquarters, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office wears a silent look. No media, no visitors, and few leaders.
Entry is easy.
Exit polls have predicted a rout for the AAP, but workers are hopeful that the “good work” done by the party won’t go waste. “We had a couple of days’ rest after the elections got over. Our leaders usually work from their respective offices. Many of them would be here on May 23,” says Ashok Khanna, joint coordinator of public grievances cell, AAP.
Bhagat Singh, an AAP worker says, “We work for the people. Even when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died, we set up a water booth for the people. The AAP will continue to work, whatever the result.”
Some might be willing to accept defeat as something life offers every now and then, but not Sangram Singh with his undying loyalty to Congress. “You can’t defeat the Congress. It is more than a party. Congress ek bhavna hai (Congress is a philosophy). It may need support from other parties, but it will certainly form the government tomorrow,” Singh says. On May 23, when the country gets its new government, Singh promises to be at his usual workplace — on the footpath outside the Congress headquarters—irrespective of the results.