Party leaders are focused on industrial development, political betrayals, and personal achievements in the city. However, many youth feel their concerns have been overlooked in the campaign
Published Nov 16, 2024 | 5:09 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 17, 2024 | 7:29 PM
Amidst shifting alliances, voters of Pune demand solutions to civic challenges
Pune’s famous ‘safe for women’ reputation was mostly applicable for “rich people with their own cars,” declared Pooja. The 29-year-old has an accessories stall on Fergusson College (FC) road – a part of the city that seems to burst with life around sunset. Pooja, who lives well away from the affluent, iconic area, gets progressively tense come nightfall.
“I live in Hadapsar. I don’t have a scooty, and my area is pretty abandoned by the time I get home,” she said. Hadapsar, along with its neighbouring areas like Bibewadi, is among the 165 hotspots the Pune police had declared ‘unsafe’ for women in 2024.
Hadapsar and seven other assembly constituencies in the city, will head for the polls in less than a week with the rest of the state. While Pune is now almost wholly saffron due to the parties’ political realingment, voters in the 2019 state election had chosen three legislators from the Congress+NCP (Ajit Pawar, then-undivided) alliance, and five from the BJP. In the Lok Sabha, however, the city has picked BJP from 2014 onwards.
Home to several prominent tech companies, and widely regarded as the state’s true political heartland, winning Pune has been a point of prestige for all the parties. With it’s proximity to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s home ground Baramati, the party had an iron grip over the city corporation until 2017.
Party leaders involved in a fierce campaign over the city and the adjacent Pimpri-Chinchwad are talking about industrial development, political betrayals, and personal achievements. Sections of the youth, however, feel their problems have been ignored.
According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics, crimes against women in Pune grew by 28.34 percent in 2022. But few of the politicians campaigning have raised the issue or provided a game plan, said Yash, 21, a student from Ferguson College. “The Uddhav Thackeray government had passed the Shakti law when it was in power, to resolve women’s cases faster. Now that the BJP is in power, the law has been stalled; the Centre is asking if it is necessary, given the new penal code. What even is necessary/unnecessary when it comes to safety?” he asked.
Mobility seems to be another point of frustration. The Mahayuti government has been cashing in on the improvement in public transport with the metro. Public response, however, seems less than enthusiastic on this point, with every Punekar bemoaning the endless traffic. “The metro just connects the tech belt to the city. It doesn’t have decent connectivity in coordination with other modes of transport like buses,” said Shivaji, 49, who drives an auto. Metro construction, and the endless delays involved, he added, were another complication, as it narrowed roads, making it impossible to drive.
Despite civic complaints, the picture does not appear to be hopelessly bleak for the ruling Mahayuti. Many people seem to be for the saffron party, given that it is in power in the Centre as well. The general consensus seems to be that a congruent government would do wonders for the city’s development.
Seats like Kothrud, with sitting BJP MLA Chandrakant Patil, and Cantonment, with BJP MLA Sunil Kamble, seem to be easy areas for the BJP. Areas like Hadapsar, with a sizeable Muslim population, are a tougher call with both factions of the NCP facing off against each other.
Wadgaon Sheri is yet another tough seat, as the BJP is dissatisfied with ally NCP’s chosen candidate and sitting MLA Sunil Tigre. Raj Thackeray’s MNS would be a factor in the Khadakwasla seat, with the party fielding Mayuresh Wanjale. His father, the late Ramesh Wanjale (aka the Gold Man), was the party’s first legislator from Pune.
While the political narrative in the city may be dominated by power struggles, public dissatisfaction over development issues may divide the electorate and make the contest a tough one.
