Metro ride sees huge support for 'idol' Arvind Kejriwal

The train chugged inside the Kaushambi metro station on the Ghaziabad side of the Delhi-UP’s Maharajpur border. One of the passengers was twelve-year-old Prashansha Gupta who braved the jostling crowds to be on the same train as her idol, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who was on his way to Ramlila Maidan to take oath as chief minister of Delhi. 

Prashansha managed to enter into the train raising slogans like, “Bhrashtachar ka kaal, Kejriwal, Kejriwal.” (Kejriwal is fatal for corruption). The class seven student does not harbour dreams of a suave white collar job once she grows up. “I want to become a social worker like Arvind Kejriwal ,” she said. 

Prashansha was accompanied with her father Anuj Gupta – a businessman based in Ghaziabad.

“I am eagre to go to the public swearing-in of a leader as CM with my daughter without caring about the rush. This is what AAP has changed about the Indian politics. Real people are willing to participate,” said Gupta.

Jharkhand’s Pawan Kumar, a daily wage earner saved money so that he could travel to Delhi to see his favourite politician sworn in as CM. “Apart from corruption, we also face exploitation everyday. I have come to raise my voice against it,” he said. Kumar was one of the many who traveled on that train along with Kejriwal and a few other AAP leaders. People came from far off regions such as Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh and from nearby Haryana and Rajasthan.  Apart from Kejriwal, all six MLAs who were to be sworn in as ministers also traveled in the same train to the Maidan.