An interesting aspect of this year’s BMC election is the large number of so-called citizen candidates. These members of the middle classes are taking the plunge into electoral politics, something their ilk used to sneer at. Moreover, civic elections, focusing on issues like water supply, drains, and roads just did not interest them. But now, with every middle-class family acquiring at least one car, roads are a big issue for this section.
Old habits die hard, however. When DNA organised the My Locality, My Voice programmes across Mumbai, the localities that saw the lowest turnouts were south Mumbai and Bandra, bastions of the upper and upper-middle class. By contrast, localities such as Kandivli, Vile Parle and Mulund, which boast of large middle-class populations, saw big turnouts and heated debates.
Traditionally, the middle class did not feel the need for the BMC. Living in posher parts of the city, its immediate needs were taken care of. If there was water shortage, tankers were available. Drains were clean and roads smooth because senior bureaucrats/ministers (South Mumbai) or film stars (Bandra) lived nearby and you can’t have the government or Bollywood complaining, can you?
Mercifully, this trend is coming to an end. The middle classes now realise that simply calling up people to get things fixed is not the solution but part of the problem. It merely gives a short-term answer. Fixing a problem permanently means doing it the right way, by making your representatives — parliamentary, assembly, and municipal — answerable.
This is why the middle classes need to get out and vote on February 16. By voting, they will make it abundantly clear to all candidates and parties that they cannot be taken for granted. It is said that half of Mumbai lives in the slums. This means the other half lives in proper houses. Most of this half constitutes the middle classes.
If this half of the city finds that its voice is not heard, it is because it chooses to stay away on voting day. Let February 16 tell a different tale.
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