SONGS, SLOGANS, MUSIC AND CHEER ALL AROUND

NEWDELHI: As the crowd in Central Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday hummed lines from “Hum Honge Kamyaab” – Hindi poet Girija Kumar’s translation of gospel-turned-protest song “We Shall Overcome” – repeating after Arvind Kejriwal, Sushil Ahuja strummed chords in his guitar. Ahuja, a resident of Old Rajendra Nagar, was among thousands who had come to attend the swearing-in ceremony, days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the assembly elections with a thumping majority.

“Attending this event means endorsing a government that believes in politics of development and welfare,” said Ahuja, accompanied by neighbours who addressed him as “guitar uncle” – a popular face who carries an acoustic guitar to local political events.

The massive crowd that had turned up at Ramlila Maidan for the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday cheered aloud as Kejriwal chanted slogans such as “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, “Inqilab Zindabad” and “Vande Mataram”, concluding his speech after taking the oath of office.

In the melee created by a large number of visitors trying to leave the venue at the end of the event, Ahuja disappeared amid a crowd waving posters. Some of the posters displayed the internet memes that had surfaced during the election campaign, ranging from morphed images of Kejriwal portraying the protagonist in popular Hindi movies to taking a dig at Union home minister Amit Shah for his comments on the ongoing protests against the amended citizenship law in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.