Suryakant Shinge's campaign covers several important areas of the constituency

23 April 2009: Apart from taking the new politics of the People's Candidate and Direct democracy to the people, the activities had to do a lot of running around on Saturday to fulfill the formalities imposed by the Election Commission - running around to get police permission for meetings, getting permission for tempo for the campaign, trying to get microphone permission, etc. All this takes a significant toll on the campaign of candidates who are not backed by the rich and the powerful.

Dockyard Labour Colony, Abhyudaya Nagar and Chatai Chawl
In the evening of Saturday, 18th April, the campaign team went to the Dockyard Labour colony. On the way to the colony in Abhyudaya Nagar, some activists stopped by at the CPI office in Kalachowki to mobilize them to come for the campaign of a worker candidate. The Party Secretary was not available. Various activists at the CPI office admitted that although the official CPI stand was to support the "Third Front" candidate who in constituency belonged to JD(S), unofficially it was imperative for them to support a worker candidate, who was also a communist and would bravely fight for the concerns and problems of the people in the Parliament.

The Dockyard Labour Colony had 14 buildings each having four to five floors. At the entrance itself, some workers told us about the composition of people staying in the colony. Many were from North India and a good number were Muslims. The activists had come prepared with the Hindi manifesto copies as more people read Hindi here than Marathi. The activists team was even bigger on this day and all 14 buildings were completed by 8:30 PM leaving some time to explore around.

The activists visited the Chatai chawl on the opposite side of the Dockyand colony. In the chawl square there was a lot of hustle & bustle and the loudspeaker was blaring as a meeting on Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti was due to begin. People, including youth, readily nodded to the idea of people's candidate and the remote control being with people's committees. After talking to people there and distributing the manifestos, some buildings of the higher income people were also covered as there was time remaining before the Campaign period ended.

Parel Village, Bhoiwada and BEST Colony
On Sunday the campaign trail started early. By 10 AM, a large group of activists reached the Parel Village area. Parel Village is a urban village with tiny pucca dwellings, open drains and narrow lanes. There are also a few trees, which gave the place a touch of the village. Being Sunday morning, women were busy washing clothes outside. The cramped nature of the place hit home to the activists when they peeped in some of the homes to talk to the people. Children were made to sit on a cot since the house was being cleaned. The children could not be allowed to play outside since clothes were being washed outside! There was no place for them to play on a Sunday morning. Such is life of working people in Mumbai.

The people were very friendly though. Some of the garment workers living there knew Suryakant and came out to greet the campaigners. They joined the procession and guided the campaign activists to various houses and areas. They introduced the candidate to many people there. One single problem that was top-most in the minds of the people was the high food prices. They mocked at the propaganda of the government that inflation was down to zero, when the prices of the essentials were soaring. Several people of the village engaged the activists on this topic to see how Suryakant could do to alleviate the problem. They were very happy to hear the various proposals of universal PDS, cutting out profiteering by the middlemen by nationalization of wholesale and foreign trade, etc.

After making a full round of the village, they accompanied the activists for campaigning in the area around. Six buildings of the BEST workers were right behind the village. Activists split and efficiently covered all the building. Workers readily agreed with the line of the People's candidate and promised to support Suryakant by voting for him.

After completing the BEST quarters, the activists marched out in the busy Bhoiwada market area and the slum colony behind. A group of youth sitting in the common area received the manifesto well. They talked to the candidate and readily agreed that the elected representatives must be under the control of the people. Before concluding the first half of the day's campaign, the activists made a round of the Christian section of the Parel Village and talked to the people. Once again the idea of people's candidate struck a cord with the women there. By half past one, the activists were heading towards Currey road to make a lunch stop and plan the activities for the next several days...contd