Delhi Traders Ask Sonia Gandhi to Defer Rahul's Nov 1 Ramlila Rally, Citing Rs 12,000 Cr Diwali Trade Risk

On Friday, the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) in Delhi sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi asking her to put off a mega rally planned for November 1 at Ramlila Maidan. The trade body says the event, proposed by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, threatens business worth Rs 10,000-12,000 crore across 20 markets in the capital, just as they prepare for Diwali.

The CTI's arithmetic starts with the crowd. It expects around 10 lakh people and 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles in central Delhi. The letter asks where those vehicles would park, noting that Ramlila Maidan cannot hold even 200 large buses. Without parking, the traders warn, the area would face gridlock akin to a lockdown.

The calendar adds to their worry. Dhanteras falls on November 6 and Diwali on November 8, and the CTI says November 1 is expected to be among the busiest days for moving festive goods and for shoppers. CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal said the appeal is not against the rally. He called it a heartfelt plea to protect livelihoods in the peak season, and described the markets as the heartbeat of Delhi. He asked how goods for Dhanteras would be moved in and out if gridlock hits central Delhi on October 31 and November 1.

The letter lists four concerns. The first is parking. The second is disruption to 20 wholesale and retail markets within a 5-km radius of the venue, which the CTI says record daily business of Rs 10,000-12,000 crore. The named markets include Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Connaught Place, Palika Bazar, Janpath, Khari Baoli, Kashmiri Gate, Lajpat Rai Market, Chawri Bazar, Dariba Kalan, Karol Bagh, Jama Masjid, Nabi Karim, Daryaganj and others. Some of these markets are up to 300 years old and supply goods across the country.

The traders also expect trouble well before the rally. They say buses and other vehicles may begin arriving at Delhi's borders, including Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Badarpur, from the afternoon of October 31, and that barricades could go up along Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and JLN Marg by evening. According to the CTI, transporters have already begun refusing to send vehicles to the markets from October 31. The markets depend on about 5,000 trucks and tempos arriving daily from 56 industrial areas, among them Narela, Bawana, Okhla, Mayapuri, Mundka, Udyog Nagar and Mangolpuri.

The CTI points to a recent precedent. On October 10, it says, only 5,000 to 7,000 people gathered at Jantar Mantar, yet central Delhi stayed gridlocked for eight hours. The expected crowd on November 1 is far larger.

The body offers two alternatives: postpone the rally until after November 10, or, if the date cannot change, move it to Burari Maidan.

The event is called the Chalo Dilli Ramlila March and is organised by the opposition INDIA bloc to protest alleged vote tampering. Rahul Gandhi has described it as a march to save democracy, stop vote theft and protect the Constitution, and said it belongs to no single party. He urged everyone fed up with Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar to join.

The letter to Sonia Gandhi followed an earlier one to Rahul Gandhi making the same request. With less than 48 hours left, traders are waiting for a response from the Congress leadership.