This Walled City ghetto a stranger to development

NEW DELHI: It is known as a ghetto and has the typical problems—narrow lanes, crumbling buildings, hanging electric wires, water and electricity crises, no good schools and lack of parking space. Matia Mahal, a Muslim-majority area, is clearly way behind most of Delhi in terms of development. Yet, its representative in the state assembly—four-time sitting MLA Shoaib Iqbal—is hopeful of winning again this December.

Popular as "netaji" in the constituency despite a notorious image, Iqbal is a Robin Hood for his supporters. "He is the one we approach if anything goes wrong in our area. He is the only leader here. We have grown up seeing him work for us," said Mohd Ismail, 19, a first-time voter in the Turkman Gate area.

But a few kilometres away, Zulfikar Ahmad, 43, a vendor in Sita Ram Bazaar, is looking forward to change. "For the past 20 years the area has struggled with problems of sewage, water and bad roads. The rainy season is a nightmare; there are still no good schools or community centres here," he said.

A large part of the constituency is slums and JJ clusters like the LNJP wood market, Basti Chautha Khamba and Basti Khwaja Mir Dutt. Iqbal is keen on forming a development board for the Walled City as he frequently cites lack of funds to carry out work. However, he has a poor record of spending his annual local area development fund. Improvement of the eight dhobi ghats in the Minto Road ward—promised before the last polls—is also pending.

In 2008, Iqbal defeated Mehmood Zia of Congress with a wide margin, however reduction of the Muslim electorate after delimitation may worry him this time. The Muslim vote bank could split between him and the candidates put up by BJP and AAP. Congress has not named its contender yet, but the buzz is that it will repeat Zia. There's also a possibility of the 'Modi factor' consolidating Hindu votes (40%) behind the BJP candidate, Nizamuddin, an advocate.

Nizamuddin is a resident of Kucha Pandit, which has more than 6,000 voters of his 'gausi' community. In 2008, they voted for Iqbal but may go with the BJP candidate this time.

The AAP candidate, Shakeel Anjum Dehelvi (54), is a publisher and a debutant in politics. However, his father won two elections on Jan Sangh tickets in the '70s before joining Congress.

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