Economy to Balakot strike, Delhiites define what development means to them

East Delhi voter Nishat Anjum said she doesn't know much about which political party promised development.

Business Standard : From everyday issues of electricity and water to the Balakot strikes, there are different development strokes for different folk in the national capital, the definition of vikas' changing in accordance with needs and necessities but also political loyalties.

Across the city, spread across seven Lok Sabha constituencies, the concept of development is fluid, shifting form and shape to mean one thing for the ragpicker getting ready to go to Uttar Pradesh to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and quite another for the affluent MNC employee.

The city, which votes on May 12, interprets the BJP government's mantra of Sabka saath, sabka vikas' in ways as diverse as its 19 million people.

For Srikishun, who works as a ragpicker in Delhi's walled city, life may be tough but he has saved money to travel to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in time to vote on May 19, the last round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.

The 28-year-old said there has been no development for the poor in the last five years but a lot of good has happened for the country. The country is getting famous but, on the other hand, unemployment is getting out of hand, he said with a wry smile.

ALSO READ: Elections LIVE: Mamata should be afraid of people of West Bengal, says Modi

Srikishun knows actor-turned-MP Ravi Kishan is the BJP's candidate in Gorakhpur but that is of little consequence he said he is going all the way to vote for Modi.

Whatever he has done in Pakistan and all the other things have made me very happy, he said.

At the other end of the economic and political -- spectrum is Harpreet Singh, an MNC employee who lives in Delhi but works in Gurgaon.

In terms of infrastructure and schools, the Delhi government has done a swell job but the BJP in the Centre has been a massive failure, he said.

Be it development, economy or harmony, the BJP has disappointed us. Now everyone is screaming themselves hoarse in big debates over religion. But nobody knows anything about what's happening in the sectors of education and economy and they also have no willingness to know about it. In 2014, I was one of those who chanted Modi's name. But I've realised I was a fool at that time, 34-year-old Singh said.