AAP, BJP, Congress In Fierce Contest News24 –

With more than 40 lakh people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar living in the national capital, “Purvanchalis” as they are called, has emerged as one of the most important and biggest chunks of voters in Delhi. With knives out on many issues including identity politics, any party can ignore them before the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025, only to their peril.

All the parties including the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress have removed all stops to woo the people from Purvanchal. They are in a decisive position in not less than 20 constituencies in Delhi.

Maithili In Delhi University

Way back in 2019, then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that Maithili would be taught in Delhi University.

Maithili is one of the most-spoken languages of Bihar with more than five crore people speaking this language.

It is also spoken in Nepal, where the language of Vidyapati has been recognised as the second official language.

Associate Professor at Satyawati College Rajiv Kumar Verma wrote a letter to the DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, a former academic council (AC) member. He said, “During the academic session this year, the University of Delhi also included Maithili Core/ Maithili Elective under the language subjects list along with other languages.”

Focus On Purvanchalis Through Chhath Festival

Similarly, the Delhi government was one of the first state governments after Bihar to announce a public holiday on Chhath, celebrated in Bihar and eastern UP.

The Maithili Bhojpuri Academy was set up by Sheila Dixit-led Congress government in Delhi in 2008.

However, the BJP upped the ante on the issue of Purvanchalis and attacked Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly insulting the Purvanchalis.

The AAP hit back by alleging that the BJP was getting “Purvanchali and Dalit names deleted from electoral rolls on the pretext of (getting the names of ) Rohingyas (deleted)”.

AAP-BJP Slugfest

The slugfest began with Kejriwal alleging that the BJP was bringing people from Bihar and UP and getting them registered as Delhi voters.

The saffron party workers, led by Delhi BJP Vice President Dinesh Pratap Singh, and the party’s Purvanchal cell head Santosh Ojha, demonstrated outside Kejriwal’s house.

PM Modi On Chhath

The BJP further escalated the issue as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the AAP government of forcing the people from Bihar and UP to observe Chhath Puja amid garbage.

Addressing a rally for Delhi Election, he said, “This is fraud and shamelessness. They want to make people struggle for water and want Purvanchalis to do Chhathhi Maiya’s puja surrounded by garbage.”

The saffron party has also raised the issue of pollution of Yamuna. The unclean river becomes an issue every year after the Chhath Puja celebration when images showing people standing in foam-filled Yamuna are flashed by the mainstream as well as social media.

These issues have been raised just before the Delhi Assembly Election 2025 as Purvanchalis hold sway over at least 20 assembly seats like Burari, Deoli, Sangam Vihar, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Kiradi, and Vikaspuri.