On Monday evening, a man in his mid-30s wearing a camouflage army jacket walks into the Capital’s Constitution Club amidst a flutter of camera clicks. A horde of such ‘not-camera-ready’ people also heads to the club situated at the heart of New Delhi, just a day after a thumping debut by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state polls. The party was holding its legislative meeting at the club to decide its further course of action.
The young man is Commando Surender Singh, who is now a member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Delhi Cantt. Singh got critically injured while fighting against terrorists during the 26/11 attack in Mumbai and lost his hearing capability. He now uses hearing aid.
Most of the faces are new for reporters and camerapersons. They are not regulars on talk shows or newspapers. Most, when asked about their names and constituencies, replied politely but exuded confidence.
They were modestly dressed, wearing chappals and socks. No one was adorning Van Heusen or Fabindia kurtas, imported Rolex or TAG Heuer watches or Ray Ban shades. They drove down on hatchbacks and were accompanied by friends or party volunteers. Unlike a Congress or BJP rally, there was no long queue of SUVs or security personnel.
The party supremo Arvind Kejriwal arrived a little later and a wave of media followed. He happily agreed to stand for a minute for photographs and walked into the meeting.
The national capital perhaps has not seen in many decades such modest participants of a political party. Replying to media queries, all of them thanked Delhiites for choosing ‘jharu’ and offered to sweep out corruption, price rise and incumbency from the city.
Though poll pundits predicted AAP to win few seats, but winning 28 constituencies out of 70 in the national capital beat everyone’s expectations.
Many of the AAP candidates’ declaration reveals that that were associated with social welfare activities before contesting for polls. Many of them are dependent on financial support from family and friends. It, however, remains to be seen if the candidates stay as modest as they looked on the second day of their unexpected victory.