In Gurgaon's industrial hub villagers vote to punish Congress

As the Gurgaon constituency went to polls today, it was a vote for change as well as the ‘vote to avenge’ for many among the electorate. A few urban villages in the industrial hub of Manesar made sure that they vote to punish the Congress for the way they have been wronged by its governments both at the state and the Centre. [caption id=“attachment_1474971” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The industrial area in Manesar is the biggest investment destination in this part of Haryana. It houses a sprawling assembling unit of Maruti, which employs the largest number of locals among all industrial facilities here. The Maruti facility, however, has been in bad news over the last two years because of recurring labour unrest. The frequent face-off between the management and the workers has left the economy of the villages surrounding the plant in distress - most villagers are entirely dependent on the plant and its auxiliary units for survival. In Basgaon village, right next to the plant, there is a sense of urgency among people to cast their votes. While the urban polling stations in Gurgaon looked deserted, in this village there was a queue of around 50 people at the booth. They claimed they were “braving the heat to vote for change.” “What have we got in last five years?” says an agitated Baldev Chauhan. “Factories opened here in hundreds, but our chief minister was sending his own people from Jhajjar, Hisar and Rohtak for jobs,..Even though these factories are on my backyard, I have been reduced to a shopkeeper selling goods to workers who come from outside,” he adds. In the adjacent village, Aliyar, the sentiment is similar. “Look at the roads inside our villages,” says Sawant Kumar, pointing at the potholes on the road that connects the village to the National Highway 8. The road stands in sharp contrast to the four-lane roads that criss-cross the industrial zone in Manesar. “We are making sure that every single person in this village vote. Despite living in an industrial township our condition is worse than that of people in any other part of the state,” he adds Kumar. Most villagers have been chanting the Modi Mantra. “The votes are not for Rao Inderjit Singh, the BJP candidate, but these are the votes for Modi,” Says Bablu Chauhan in Basgaon. However, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Yogendra Yadav invokes respect among the people here. “He is a good man, but what’s the point, his party is the B team of the Congress,” says Bablu. According to the residents of this area, the BJP has run an extensive campaign here to promote the idea that the AAP is a subsidiary of the Congress party. Some people claim that in some villages voters have been bribed. “It happens before every election. This time also it happened, bina paise ke koi vote nahi deta (no one votes without money)” says a migrant labourer. The migrant labourers, who work in the factories around, do not share a very happy relationship with there landlords, but then again, that’s another story.