Songs, slogans, music add cheer to ceremony
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 of 62 out of 70 seats – five less than its previous victory in 2015.
“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. He further said, “But I have a complaint, they (AAP) should have given at least one cabinet position to a woman.”
The massive crowd that had turned up at Ramlila Maidan for the government’s 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 from L-G Anil Baijal.
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.
Most visitors whom HT spoke with on Sunday attributed their decision to attend the ceremony to “development” and “welfare”, which were poll planks of the AAP government in Delhi. Many of them had come from other cities – Sanjay Joshi and his 18-yearold son, Pratham included.
“While the BJP pitched its poll campaign on religion and protests, the AAP stuck to jobs, education, health, and other issues that affect people. We came here to see the chief minister who succeeded with a positive campaign,” said Pratham Joshi, a resident of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Harjeet Singh, a resident of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, said, “It would be great if we get Delhilike facilities in our state. I was visiting relatives in Delhi. I thought what’s the harm in attending the ceremony. Maybe I could learn a thing or two.”
When asked what he had learnt, Singh sauntered towards a gathering on the intersection outside the venue, crushing an empty soft drink bottle with an AAP label. The drinks were distributed by party volunteers at the venue earlier in the day.
At the centre of the gathering was Ahuja, sporting a helmet and strumming on his guitar a rhythm-based on a sharp scale. He was entertaining the crowd by singing a self-composed song, titled “Kejriwal Hanuman” – inspired by Kejriwal singing verses from ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ during an interview given to a TV channel when the campaign for the election was going on.
Among the viewers who cheered Ahuja was a person who stood with a broom (election symbol of the AAP) stuck upsidedown on his belt – its straw spread out wide like the feathers of a peacock and stickers with Kejriwal’s face stuck on top of them.