Delhi must learn a lesson on diversity from Mumbai

The rivalry between Delhi and Mumbai is legendary. Yet, they are inseparable. Both are life and soul of India's politics and finance. Can you imagine daily close to 100 flights operate from Indira Gandhi International Airport to Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport and vice-versa. Of course, the rivalry is friendly and healthy. Naturally, both Mumbaikars and Delhiwallas speak for their cities. That's fine.

However, Mumbai easily scores over Delhi when it comes to diversity. Just sit at Marine Drive outside the gigantic Arabian Sea and watch the people walking there briskly. Hear the language they speak. It can be Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Konkani, English and few other languages that you may not understand. And in Delhi, if you are travelling in Metro or sitting in plush coffee shop, you would probably hear Hindi with heavy dose or accent of Punjabi or Hinglish.

Alas, Delhi misses several opportunities in the past to become like Mumbai or at least show to the world that it is trying hard to become like Mumbai when it comes to diversity. Let us talk about the result of 2017 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) poll that has clearly and conclusively proved that though Delhi is a national capital, yet it is very local. It does not think beyond Hindi speaking states when choosing their candidates for Corporation, Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Delhi likes to elect only local guys or those who originally hail from various north Indian States.

You too can scan through the list of winners of the last MCD poll to gauge this fact that all the 270 winners to MCD poll are either from Delhi or have some Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana connections. Will Delhi change now? The forthcoming MCD poll is couple of months away and it must change its rank narrow outlook and give fair chance to people of non-Hindi speaking states to serve them as Corporation members. It is a wake-up call for Delhi.

And unlike Delhi, Mumbai society celebrates diversity. It is very much evident as you read the names of some of their Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) members like Shiv Kumar Mishra, Thevar Mariammal Mathuramlingan, Vini Fred D'souza, Kamlash Yadav, Sri Kala Pillai and Shiv Kumar Jha. That shows as to how Mumbai society is vibrant. They have certainly an all India character.

Remember close on the heels of MCD polls, Mumbai too had witnessed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll. Almost one third of the members elected to BMC were non-Marathis. It is remarkable feet compare to Delhi. In the 227-member BMC, 72 are members are non-Marathis, up from the 61 who were elected in 2012. Of these, 24 Gujaratis, 14 North Indians, five South Indians and three Christians. The BJP had sent the highest number of non-Marathi members to the corporation - 36 in all, including 23 Gujaratis, 12 North Indians and one South Indian.

For the first time, the Shiv Sena had sent a Muslim candidate to the corporation. Among Shiv Sena candidates, three South Indians and one North Indians got elected. Among the Congress members, there are nine Muslims, three Christians and one north Indian. Will Delhi ever elect a Christian to MCD, assembly or Lok Sabha? It should.

Alas, unfortunately no party is ready to give tickets to Bengali, Malayali, Tamil, Gujarati or other non-Hindi speaking people in Delhi even though they have been shedding their blood toil tears and sweat for this city . Will any body in BJP, Congress and AAP enlighten us as to why they did not look at non-Hindi speaking people? Why they do not give tickets to people from non-Hindi speaking states in Delhi? They have to answer to this question. Chittaranjan Park, Minto Road, Mahavir Enclave and many more areas have sizable population of Bengali speaking people. Perhaps not many people would be aware of the fact that outside West Bengal, largest numbers of Bengali medium schools are in Delhi. There are seven and almost all of them are over 50 years old. Meanwhile, Dilshad Garden, Mayur Vihar and Janak Puri have already emerged as the bastions of Malayali power. You can buy Matrabhoomi and Malyalam Manorma from newspaper vendors in these areas. And Tahitians are big force in Karol Bag, Rhine, RK Puram, Netaji Nagar and several other areas. Delhi Tamils have been running several schools that are doing yeoman service in imparting quality education to people with fewer resources.

Yet, all these communities get raw deal from political parties when it comes to giving them tickets for various elections.

Arguably Delhi was more diverse and open to accepting leaders from non-Hindi speaking states in the past. CK Nair, a Malayali was elected from outer Delhi Lok Sabha seat in 1952 and 1957 respectively. He was known as Gandhi of rural Delhi. Perhaps not many people know that thanks to his efforts, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was established. In the 1980 Lok Sabha poll, Congress fielded senior Kerala leader CM Stephen from New Delhi seat against the BJP stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee. Stephen used to address in Malayalam and had given run for money to Vajpayee though he lost with a very small margin. And in 1970s and 1980s, Shanti Desai, a Gujarati, was a top BJP leader in MCD. He even remained a Mayor of Delhi. Meera Bhardwaj - a Malayali lady married to a local journalist, got elected to Delhi assembly in 1998 from Patparganj in east Delhi. Finally, Mukul Banerjee was Congress MP from New Delhi in 1971. But for these small examples, Delhi has never given enough chance to people from non-Hindi speaking states to contest from MCD to Lok Sabha polls. That shows that Delhi still has to go long way to match the diversity of Mumbai. If it has to be like Mumbai, it must have broader outlook.

(The author is a Delhi-based journalist who closely follows South Asia, Business, Delhi and Indian Diaspora)