Lok Sabha polls: It's a Modi wave at Indore's 200-year-old food market

Ramesh Babulal, 63, who has been selling garadu and boiled mashed corn delicacy for nearly two decades will vote for the BJP

The mood at Sarafa Bazaar, Indore’s street food hub, is sizzling — with both food vendors and local foodies pledging support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the country heads for the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections on Sunday. 

And, this food hub probably sums up the mood in the entire city.

The ‘Jewellery Street’ by day transforms into Khau Galli (‘Food Street’) by night, with a range of delicacies on offer, including gigantic jalebis, custard apple rabri, fried yam bites called ‘garadu’ dahi bada and kachori, among others.

Ramesh Babulal, 63, who has been selling garadu and boiled mashed corn delicacy for nearly two decades at the Sarafa Bazaar will vote for the BJP. Although he is not impressed with the party’s candidate fielded from the city, Shankar Lalwani, Babulal says he will vote to make Modi the Prime Minister of the country.

“I am very impressed with the work carried out by the BJP in our city in the last few years, particularly with regard to cleanliness. Hence, my family and I will vote for the party,” he said.

He added that unlike previous years, when the city would vote for eight-time MP Sumitra Mahajan, fondly called Tai, this time the vote will be for Modi. The 16th Lok Sabha speaker is not in the fray this time as she has crossed 75. 

Lalwani, the former Indore Development Authority (IDA) chair­man from the BJP, has been fielded against Congress’ Pankaj Sanghvi, the millionaire candidate who is yet to win an election in 30 years. 

The 200-year-old buzzing night food market dates back to the times of Indore’s Ahilyabai Holkar, the Holkar Queen of the Maratha Malwa kingdom. The Rajwada area comes to life after 10 pm as jewellery stores get replaced by neon-lit food signboards. Closer to midnight, the crowd gets thicker, as myriad people from locals to tourists squat in the corners to feast.

Rabri seller Abhay feels that the BJP candidate Lalwani will win the seat by sheer luck, in ‘Modi’s wave’, as otherwise he didn’t have any credentials to show. 

“The entire city is confused as to why Lalwani got the ticket, when more popular figures like Kailash Vijayvargiye and Malini Goud were there. But one thing is sure, our vote will be for the BJP,” he added. Vijayvargiye, national secretary of the BJP, had pulled out as a possible candidate of the BJP amid severe in-fighting within the party in the city.

City mayor Malini Goud’s name resounded in the city, including in the night market, in the same breath as Modi. 

She is credited for her work in making Indore the cleanest city in the country for the third straight year in 2019 under Swachh Sarvekshan carried out by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. “Thanks to Goud, our city is the cleanest in the country. Cleaning of roads begin at midnight through roller machines. Manual garbage collection from roads begins at 11 pm. Had Goud been given the ticket by the BJP, there wouldn’t be any contest. She would have been the clear winner,” said Vicky Singh, who sells lemon-based drinks in the market. Singh’s views were also shared by the foodies. Harshal Mahajan, who runs a cloth shop in the city, said Goud has worked tirelessly for the welfare of the city and deserved a ticket from the party. “We don’t even know who Lalwani is, but unfortunately we would still have to vote in his favour, as voters are for Modi this time,” he added.

Goud’s efforts put into effect a Rs 500 fine for littering on roads and a Rs 200 fine for spitting on the roads. Indore moved from the 25th position in the cleaniliness survey in 2016 to first a year later. About 13 lakh metric tonnes of waste was taken care of through bioremediation of the city’s trenching ground. About 1,100 tonnes of daily waste (including 600 tonnes wet waste, 450 tonnes dry waste, rest biomedical and other waste) is processed in the city daily.