Nobody minds the gap, Kejri connects with aam aadmi on Metro

Around 11 am Delhi Metro had one of the most unlikely commuters – 45-year-old Arvind Kejriwal who was going to be sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi.

Kejriwal took an escalator at Kaushambi Metro station in the satellite city ofGhaziabad. The escalator was stopped due to push and shove from behind. “Arvind! Arvind!,” shouted lensmen to attract his attention.

Hundreds of supporters waited for more than an hour to catch the same Metro with Kejriwal.

A few minutes before his arrival, the well orderly queues made by Aam Aadmi Party volunteers turned disorderly – and people started shouting slogans, some concentrated on taking photographs – when Kejriwal arrived with his six cabinet members.   

Soon the decibel level went several notches up and one could barely hear the announcements, informing commuters that taking photographs or videos on Metro premises is prohibited.

Early in the morning, there was a huge crowd of supporters and camera crews waiting in anticipation of the new chief minister at his apartment in Kaushambi. The entrance to his apartment was closed.

“He is a common man and now we think that even a common man can become a leader and run the nation,” said Kejriwal’s neighbour Srinivas Rao. He has been living in that apartment for the past 10 years. “Till today politicians were running the show,” he added.  
“No no, there is no inconvenience. Even if there is some I don’t mind. It is ultimately an attempt to clean up society,” Rao said on being asked if he faced any problems sharing the same neighbourhood with Kejriwal, with hordes of supporters coming to the apartment to see him.

AAP supporters were coordinating with one another to provide a smooth passage to Kejriwal and his cabinet members who were to go in their cars to the nearby Kaushambi station.

“So do you think this movement will spread throughout the nation?” asked Ramesh Chandra Sharma with a smile, a 65-year-old lawyer, who came from Gwalior to take the same Metro with Kejriwal. “So you think we did it?” he said after getting an affirmative response.

The road leading to the Metro station from Kejriwal’s house was being cleaned up. “We do it regularly, but today it is special because of Kejriwal,” said a supervisor from Ghaziabad Municipal Health Department who was inspecting the work, pointing at the track that was earmarked for Kejriwal’s convoy.

Despite Kejriwal’s denial to take any security cover, a police van was deployed by Uttar Pradesh Police near the Metro station and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that guards the Metro security had deployed double the number of security personnel.

“Had security been tight, the common men would not have faced problem,” said Harpal Singh who took the same Metro with Kejriwal, backing his decision to deny security cover. “Hum pe dande padte (we would have been lathicharged)! Common men would have been able to join,” said another in support of Singh.

The supporters shouted slogans during the more than half-an-hour ride to Barakhamba station.

The six cabinet members were seen in different coaches with AAP supporters. “I never knew Kejriwal is travelling in the same Metro,” said Gurmeet Singh, a regular commuter, who said he didn’t mind the crowd and noise.

Kejriwal got down at Barahkhamba station and dodged the media by taking a lift. He went in a car to Ramlila Ground where the swearing-in ceremony was held. Many supporters, however, got down at New Delhi Metro station, which is a five-minute walk from Ramlila Ground.