Across the road from the most well-known mosque in the country built with red sandstone and white marble almost 400 years ago is a non-descript tea shop. Raees, the owner, says he's yet to make up his mind on who to cast his vote for and gets busy stirring the pot on fire.
one The weekend crowd is building up in the blazing afternoon as rickshaws, two-wheelers, and walkers jostle for space in the narrow and famous galis, such as Kinari Bazaar, Dariba Kalan, and Nai Sarak. Two big rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and another by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi - are being held in different parts of Delhi on the same day (Saturday), but Raees couldn't care less.
"No leader comes to us," he says when asked about the number of campaigns and rallies here.
Closeby, Mohd Irfaan is manning a small kirana store while munching a bhutta (corn).
He laments the low footfall at the shop called Ashfaq Rizwan Paan, saying there's no kaarobaar (business).
Will it help that a candidate from the trading community has been floated from Chandni Chowk, a trader-dominated constituency with a large Muslim population? Irfaan has heard of Praveen Khandelwal, a trade association (Confederation of All India Traders, or CAIT) general secretary and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Chandni Chowk constituency, but that's about it. Does he have a view on the Hindu-Muslim narrative that crops up during elections? Those are political issues and don't affect common people, he replies.
The next stop is Karim's, the landmark restaurant near Jama Masjid. Zainul Abideen, director of the hotel and restaurant chain founded in 1913, agrees with the general narrative of business being down. "The crowd is less. Tourists aren't there. And the heat has made things worse,” Zain Sahab, as he's often called, points out. The weekend rush should not be seen as a footfall yardstick, he cautions. On weekdays, the numbers are down drastically.
Denne historien er fra May 20, 2024-utgaven av Business Standard.
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Denne historien er fra May 20, 2024-utgaven av Business Standard.
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