Thread by @_NAN_DINI

The single one, most important revelation of this build up to #Election2019 has been -
how little the well educated & the privileged understand the process of governance in our country
Is it ignorance or something visceral that makes some one say-

~Look at the filth on our streets.
Why doesn’t Modi clean it up?~

*Did you ever ask Sonia or MMS to clean your streets?*

~No. But at least they didn’t go on & on about #SwachhBharat

*Since we are inured & insensitive there’s a requirement to create social awareness.

A campaign that makes us aware of the role each one of us should play.*

~Okay. So now I’ve to clean the streets ?!?~

*No. But you can at least take responsibility that the cartons & packaging of your new washing machine doesn’t end up in the empty plot at the end of

your street thrown by your domestic help.
Or the leaves of your garden are not burnt in the service lane by your gardener*

When it’s pointed out that cleanliness is the municipality’s responsibility & the local Councillor is accountable they look as if they’ve never heard of

the term before & of course have never voted in the MCD elections either.

~Arre yaar, how many elections are we suppose to vote in ?~

On the other hand, another revelation has been how the less privileged in the past five years are now connected, attuned & confident of making the system of governance work for them.

The residents of Khanpur-not figuratively, but literally. Ref: Khan Market vs Khanpur on @NewsX

Tigri, Sangam Vihar, Deoli & Raju Park, once unauthorised colonies, where carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers live with narrow lanes, open drains, electrical wires swinging from electrical pole to pole, three floors on a postage stamp footprint, cheek to jowl.

God forbid if there was ever a fire or earthquake, the residents of these unmarked labyrinths would pay dearly w/life & property as first responders would struggle to reach them.

Whereas agencies which allowed these filmsy structures to come up would go unpunished, unrepentant.

~After 30 years of living in Delhi we have garbage trucks that come every morning between 8-9am. Our women wait with bins at our doorsteps.
There is no bigger joy for my wife than to see #SwachhBharat trucks. If it doesn’t turn up even on one day we go to the

Councillor who lives two streets away & ask him to look into it.
On our street, every month one resident sees to it that our drains are cleaned regularly. The Councillor knows his re-election depends on us ~

#Election2019 is about the ignored multitudes, the backbone of our cities, who work with their hands to provide us a lifestyle that we aspire to.
Flicking through glossy architectural magazines of Spanish haciendas & Mediterranean patios,

many of us remain quite unaware that the creators of those flights of fancy & the Councillor who can deliver, if held accountable, live beyond our peripheral walls in the maze of streets behind us.