As Sunita Kejriwal’s motorcade entered Tilak Nagar Sunday for her second roadshow ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, with party candidate Mahabal Mishra seated behind her, men, women and children came out on roads and balconies to catch a glimpse.
She was welcomed by hundreds of INDIA (AAP and Congress) bloc members and followers bearing party flags and brooms, some even donning Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s mask amid drum beats and echoes of slogans of ‘Jail ka jawab vote se’.
“Has your son, your brother, Arvind Kejriwal, committed any crime by announcing that he will give you Rs 1,000 per month; if not, then give your answer by voting,” appealed Sunita to residents.
The AAP convener’s wife alleged that “her husband has been forcibly put in jail”, even though no court has found him guilty yet, adding, “They have come up with a new system that will keep him in jail till investigation is conducted, this is high-handedness and dictatorship.”
“Is she Kejriwal’s wife?” asked a 10-year-old boy, pointing towards her. The boy’s father, Vijay Kumar, nodded and said: “Given the court delays/extension in the bail, it will be very difficult to run the government from the jail. He added that he won’t mind if the Delhi CM resigns “and makes his wife the CM”. “She is well-educated,” he said.
AAP has fielded Mishra, a former Congress MP, against BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat from the West Delhi Parliamentary constituency, of which Tilak Nagar is a part. The area has had an AAP MLA — Jarnail Singh — since 2013.
“She is intelligent and will lead the party well… In Kejriwal’s absence, the party might fall into someone else’s hands,” said Laxman Singh Shekhawat, who was a Captain in the Indian Army before retiring. “Only this month, we saw Raaj Kumar Anand quit even when he had multiple departments… it’s best in everyone’s interest if someone loyal to him (Arvind Kejriwal) leads the way,” he added.
But not everyone is onboard with her elevation in the party. “Kis hasiyat se aayi hain vo, sirf isliye ki CM ki wife hain?… (In what capacity she has come… just because she is the wife of the CM?)… Jail mein daal diya to vote de do… ye koi mudda hai? (Just because he has been jailed, people should vote for him… what sort of an issue is this?),” said Jitin Ghar, a resident.
Though an admirer of Kejriwal and his party, Hasnain too “doesn’t agree with AAP’s slogan, ‘Jail ka jawab vote se’ as he said votes should be given on the basis of work and development. “Kejriwal has done a lot for Delhiites, I will support him, but not based on the slogan call.” The 58-year-old claimed he has “never seen the incumbent MP” Parvesh Verma from BJP — serving his second term — in his area once in the past 10 years.
Gagan Sodhi, a resident of Tilak Nagar, said he wasn’t happy with the condition of his block and won’t support Mishra as he alleged that despite the councillor and MLA belonging to the party, the condition of water, parks, roads, garbage disposal, streetlights was “pathetic”.
(The writer is an intern with The Indian Express)