Band, baaja, bandobast mark V-Day in Capital
“Where’s the sangeet?” shouted a ‘baraati’. Within seconds, a dozen students started grooving to songs — from Bollywood wedding songs to traditional Assamese folk songs.
In between, water ran out and the wedding cheer was replaced with raucous cries of “Delhi police, khana do (give us food).”
Just as one group looked like it would run out of steam, another quickly took its place to keep the festivities going.
“No, no! I don’t dance,” said a policewoman shyly, temporarily shedding her uniformed sternness, as a student tried to pull her in. Amused authorities looked on as the ‘wedding party’, seemingly unaware that they were under detention, carried on.
In the middle of it all, a rather large ‘priest’ — dressed in boots and an exquisite red dhoti — announced he would officiate the weddings. Two women walked up to him, followed by three, and then two men — and they were all married, blessed with ‘ghar wapsi’ notes (homecoming notes — to mock the controversial conversion programme).
As the crowd cheered on, a Muslim man was mock-converted, and told that his ‘shuddhikaran’ (purification) process had begun and young poets read out their verses.
By then, the sun had waned and the wedding guests had started grumbling about the lack of food and water, with the ‘father of the bride’ apologising to his ‘guests’. Within an hour, the protesters — tired but joyous — marched out to celebratory slogans, but not before making a point about religious coercion and keeping the institution of love free from hooliganism. Satire had, as always, ended up serious.
In another first, his allweather shadow Manish Sisodia became the deputy chief minister. He will look after urban development, education, finance, vigilance and revenue. Some of these portfolios were earlier held by Kejriwal.
“The chief minister will get ministers and MLAs to work. Based on people’s feedback, he will find out lapses and ensure they are corrected and not repeated,” Sisodia said.
Satyendra Jain, who too was part of the 49-day Kejriwal government, would be the health minister and take charge of industries, irrigation and flood control and the public works department.
Gopal Rai, one of the four new faces in Kejriwal’s cabinet, will look after employment, development, labour and transport departments. Jitender Singh Tomar has been given home, law and justice, tourism, and art and culture. Asim Ahmad Khan was given food and supply, environment and forest and election portfolios. Sandeep Kumar will take charge of departments concerning women and children, social welfare, language, and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.
Senior IAS officer Rajendra Kumar will retain his post as principal secretary to the chief minister.
Shortly after taking oath at Ramlila Maidan, Kejriwal, along with his cabinet of six ministers, reached the Delhi secretariat and met officials and ministers at his office.
He even had a word of advice for the Prime Minister: “Focus on the country and leave Delhi to the AAP government.”
Soon after his historic victory in the assembly elections, Kejriwal had made his demand for statehood clear during meetings with the PM and Union minister Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu.
In another apparent jab at the NDA government, the CM reacted to the string of attacks on churches and Christian buildings, saying, “The people of Delhi love peace. They will not tolerate such communal politics.”
Kejriwal, who started his Delhi chapter in 2011 with the Anna Hazare-led crusade against corruption, promised to clean up the city in five years. With an anti-corruption helpline as a first step, he urged the people, “If somebody
asks for a bribe, don’t say no. Setting ker lena (fix the deal) and record it. Send the video footage to me. I will take action.”
Pointing out that his government would shun all the trappings of power, he said, “In developed countries, even PMs wait at bus stands. Why can’t the same happen here? We want to end the VIP culture in this country.”
He repeated his advice to AAP ministers, legislators and volunteers to stay humble and not succumb to arrogance. He also praised his rivals for the chief minister’s chair, saying he hoped to consult with “elder sister” Kiran Bedi and a “vastly experienced” Ajay Maken on developing Delhi.
Branded Mufflerman by his fans, Kejriwal gave the popular accessory a miss on a sunny Saturday despite being down with the flu. And despite his sore throat, he ended his speech with some lines from the patriotic Manna De song ‘Insaan ka insaan se ho bhaichaara’. “In fact, the match would have
begun by the time the flight lands in Sydney,” he said. An AI spokesperson confirmed the incident.
“AI has killed the World Cup for us. We had a connecting flight to Adelaide. Now, we don’t know what to do. Thanks to AI, we won’t get to see it even on TV now,” said another passenger.
“This shows complete management failure at AI. From morning to late evening, if an airline cannot even arrange cabin crew for a flight, then it speaks volumes about its functioning,” said aviation expert Subhash Goyal.
AI has been facing an acute shortage of cabin crew for many months now. As reported by HT on February 10, AI’s ontime performance (OTP) fell to 59.8% — the worst among domestic carriers — in December 2014 prompting the aviation ministry to step-in and monitor the airline’s OTP on a daily basis. The ministry has also directed AI to fix accountability for flight delays and recover money from employees for losses caused as a result of such delay.
Flights to Milan and Paris were also delayed on Saturday.
IN BETWEEN, WATER RAN OUT AND THE WEDDING CHEER WAS REPLACED WITH CRIES OF “DELHI POLICE, KHANA DO”