A small electric rickshaw roams around Shamli town and adjacent areas, announcing the date of polling and calling out to the residents of the town, a border district of Muzaffanagar, to vote in large numbers. As it traverses the long stretch of road between Kairana town and Malakpura, it passes by the Malakpura refugee camp.
Its presence sparks commotion among a group of men idling close to the camp. Jobless and waiting for succour from the government, they have been idle ever since they were displaced from their homes during the September 2013 riots.
"I have actually been looking forward to the election. However, as it comes closer I am kind of scared and sad," Mohammad Shajid said as he listened to the announcements from the rickshaw. "I thought at least in the run up to the election, the parties will do something for us, the riot victims, but nothing has happened. I think these 3,500 people in the camp don't figure in their agenda of development," he added.
The sense of resignation and frustration is hard to miss. In a way it sums up the sentiment across the riot relief camps in the region. Hounded out of their homes and forced to herd into makeshift camps in safe zones, the riots victims are scared to move back to their homes even six months after the riots. During this period, they have had to weather the merciless winter, pitiable living conditions and political apathy.
The election is only a week away, but those in the camps don't view it with much hope. They are fed up with platitudes from political parties. "The government aid has stopped coming and the camp doctors have vanished. The rest pretty much remains the same," Shajid said, adding, "Only a daily supply of milk for the children is still intact." "Only a few Samajwadi Party campaigners came here a few days ago and boasted that their government has managed to give 16 hours of electricity to every household. What will I do with the electricity when I don't have roof to shelter my six-member family," grumbled Mohammad Tahir.
Both Tahir and Shajid are from Phugana village, one of the worst affected in the communal riots. "The SP, the so-called saviour of the Muslims, has been telling us that the Muslims are much better off in UP than in Gujarat... They still want us to vote for them. They are not getting any of it," Shajid said.
It is not that he and his neighbours are going to vote for the candidate of another party, but in all likelihood the residents of these camps will skip voting this time. "How will I vote even if I wanted to?" says Akhtaria, a married woman in her fifties. "Most of my family members have lost the voter identity cards as the house were burnt along with all our possessions," she said.
The election commission of UP is now distributing 'vishwas parchi' (confidence slips) among the people in the camps. However, it is of little help, according to the residents of the camps. The slips carry the name and number of the local SHOs and the polling booth number. It hardly builds confidence in the people. "I saw the name of an SHO, who was a mute spectator when our houses were being ruined. How can he help me now?" Abid Sheikh, a resident of a smaller relief camp in Shamli district, said.
Most of the residents of these camps in Shamli, which falls under the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency, claim that since none of the parties have made any effort to give them their land back, they will refrain from voting. "Even if we vote, who should it would be for? The only option that we have is the BSP. When the BSP government was in power, the Jats could never raise a finger, but the day the Akhilesh government came we started living like outsiders on our own land," Abid said. "But even the BSP has not said anything about the condition of the riots victims," he said. While Mayawati had sent a consignment of blankets, Akhilesh Yadav didn't even visit these camps.
Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi somehow managed to get a toehold among these people as they visited the camps in January following the deaths of children. But these were nothing more than goodwill gestures. "The death of children is under control, but it's only because the weather is not extreme. In a few months time there will be an outbreak of water borne diseases," warned a doctor in the Kairana District Hospital, who did not wish to be named. Despite the bleak mood, some still see a ray of hope in the elections.
They are hopeful that the contesting parties will do something to woo them. "Let someone tell me that they will help me to get whatever compensation I'm entitled to , I'll vote for them," Shajid said.
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