This professor is AAP mayoral candidate from Kanpur
KANPUR: A professor of Hindi to senior classes at the Juhari Devi Post Graduate Degree College here, Meena Singh Gaur has had her life centered around her profession, her ailing parents and ‘Bittu’, a niece she has raised as her daughter.
Her colleagues were after her to take a political plunge and reluctantly she applied for a mayoral ticket from Aam Admi Party (AAP). To her surprise, she was announced as the candidate.
“Indeed I was taken aback by the decision; but now I am fighting to win and bring a change to Kanpur,” she says.
In 1985, Gaur was elected the secretary of Dayanand College of Law with a victory margin of 11,000 votes. And this time, she strongly believes she would surprise the political pundits.
“I came to Kanpur from a humble background to pursue higher education in late 70s. I was just a village girl who, like this time, was encouraged to fight student body poll. And I won,” she recalls.
Living in MG hostel inside the MG Girls Inter College for the last 39 years, she says she knows the duties of a mayor.
“I am not promising the moon like other candidates,” she says.
To her, a mayor could strongly contribute in making a real difference in sanitation, healthcare and education. “See the condition of KMC hospitals and schools; I would do best to change them,” she says.
“Women don’t have toilets for them in any of the public place. Pink toilets will be a priority for me,” she says adding, “small vendors who are routinely harassed would be given a proper place to do their daily business.”
Supported by her students and friends, Gaur is covering the length and breath of the city in cars her friends lend for the day.
“I do not have money and I am spending whatever I have,” she said adding, but the effort is worth it when the people connect with the issues.