Politics does make strange bedfellows. When Shiv Sena shouts ?Mumbai for Maharashtrians?, Congress shouts back ?Mumbai for all All Indians?. When Sheila Dikshit rues that ?once they come here, they never go back?, it is BJP that cries foul and Shiv Sena that says the Delhi CM is the ?only man? in the Congress. Dikshit retracts. Then P Chidambaram does the foot-in-mouth thing: ?These migrants who settle in unauthorised colonies carry a kind of behaviour which is unacceptable in any modern city. So crimes do take place.? He too retracts, but not before BJP members pointed out how migrants have been key in the making of Delhi. Now, both Congress and BJP councillors have put their weight behind a resolution demanding that 85% of MCD?s vacancies be reserved for Delhiites. This is quite unsavoury.
As justification, we are told that neighbouring states like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also domicile quotas. Irrespective of whether that is desirable or not, did the councillors forget that Delhi is the capital of the country? Was Chandigarh ever considered as a CWG venue? Does Shimla boast a big-budget metro? The resources enjoyed by the capital inspire envy in many a state, a corollary of which should be that it should set the benchmarks in human resource management as well. It should take pride in providing job opportunities to people from across the country; the more migrants? aspirations it fulfills, the sweeter will its growth song sound. As for the MCD, you can judge the irresponsible way in which it mooted a really divisive proposal by how this was done without even figuring out what a Delhiite is: someone who has a voter ID in the capital or everyone who was living here yesterday? Too bad if you truck in tomorrow?
