A mammoth stage is set in one corner of the six-acre ground – a rarity in an area dotted with numerous unauthorised colonies — in West Delhi’s Mohan Garden for a jansabha to be addressed by Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejirwal in favour of party candidate from Uttam Nagar, Naresh Baslyan.
Besides the party flags and a huge poster in the background carrying pictures of Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, the stage and the ambience reminds of the Anna Movement with volunteers flying tricolour flags even as the surrounding area reverberates with sound of patriotic and AAP’s main campaign song Paanch Saal Kejriwal.
The impressive crowd of supporters waited patiently for their leader though he reached the venue two hours late. Even as small groups of supporters continued to trickle into the ground raising slogans, the sound of the air-horn from the pilot van of Mr. Kejriwal’s cavalcade generated a huge roar from the gathering.
And the first sight of Mr. Kejirwal on the stage sets the supporters into frenzy, both on and off stage as several people try to have a closer look of the AAP leader and also take a picture of him. After a brief felicitation by different groups, including the Balmiki Samaj that donated Rs. 1.21 lakh to the party, Mr. Kejriwal launches a vitriolic attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party – the party the AAP leader reminds the gathering is their principal opponent this time round.
“The Congress looted the country for several years. People uprooted them during the last Assembly polls. Seven months ago, people brought a change by voting the BJP to power. But in such a short period people have started saying Dhoka Ho Gaya (we have been cheated). Wherever I go, people say a U-turn sarkar is in place now. They do the opposite of what they promised,” Mr. Kejriwal said, adding that only the AAP can keep promises ‘as it did during the 49-days when Ram Rajya was established in Delhi’.
The AAP leader slammed the BJP and the Modi government over a host of issues including rise in electricity bills, no action on bringing back black money, unchecked inflation, demolition of JJ clusters and women security, especially the comments made by the BJP leaders like Hindu women bearing four kids and not wearing jeans.
The AAP leader also slammed the Prime Minister for equating him with Naxals, even as he continued to enter into a dialogue with the responsive gathering. Mr. Kejriwal held three such jansabhas on Sunday besides going on a padyatra in his own constituency New Delhi.
