The crowd attending or not attending election rallies and roadshows are often used as barometers for the popularity of the leader. Except, viral videos over period of time have shown how more often than not, such ‘supporters’ are often clueless about the rally, roadshow and even the leader they’re supposed to be supporting. Such has been case with the recent roadshow held by Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal in Rajkot.
On Sunday, November 6, Arvind Kejriwal held a roadshow in Rajkot East constituency in Gujarat where the elections will be held in less than a month’s time.
‘राजकोट ईस्ट’ में भी स्थानीय लोग बड़ी संख्या में AAP के रोड-शो में शामिल हुए। https://t.co/FVWJ0SI20T
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 6, 2022
Except, the local residents were quite clueless about Kejriwal and some didn’t even know whose roadshow they were attending and why. They’d come just because their neighbour, likely an AAP worker, asked them to.
In a video shared by BBC Gujarati, some women from Rajkot who attended Kejriwal’s roadshow were interviewed and asked for their comments.
When BBC Gujarati’s Rajnish asked a bunch of women on a tempo participating in Kejriwal’s roadshow, they had some interesting and amusing answers. One lady Hansaben Bharatbhai Parmar very proudly said that ‘Kejriwala’ had come to Rajkot. When asked who is Kejriwal, she said she does not know. “Yeh toh malum nahin kaun Kesriwala, Kejriwala… Savarnawala,” she said in Hindi. Savarna in Gujarati stands for broom, the election symbol for Aam Aadmi Party. However, when asked who exactly is Kejriwal, she said she does not know.
Another woman says she is attending rally of one ‘Miteshbhai’ who was her neighbour. She said Miteshbhai brought her to rally saying that if she attends it, the school fees will be waived off, water bill, electricity charges, will all be free. When asked which party the rally was for, she said it was Aam Aadmi Party’s rally but added she didn’t know who the leader is. She did mention Arvind Kejriwal’s name after being prompted by another lady standing by. She said that they were brought by someone but had come on their own.
When asked who is the chief minister of Gujarat, the lady quickly said it is Narendra Modi. Modi ceased to be Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2014 when he became the Prime Minister of India. Since then, Gujarat has had one state election also. When the camera pans and journalist asks other women who is the CM of Gujarat, they all say Narendra Modi. When he asked who is then the Prime Minister of India, Hansaben Bharatbhai Parmar replies how would they know when they have not stepped out of Rajkot.
He then asks whose roadshow they’re attending. Two women say she does not know the name. When he asks if they want to change the chief minister since they think Modi is the chief minister, one woman quips who would vote for her and said she picked up Aam Aadmi Party flag because she was given.
Kejriwal has also roped in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for campaigning in pollbound state while the farmers of Punjab continue burning the stubble leading to hazardous air quality in Delhi and surrounding areas. However, despite being in power for so long, there has been no improvement in air quality in Delhi which turns into a gas chamber every year leading to scores of respiratory problems.
Having come on the plank of ‘changing politics’, Kejriwal seems to have changed himself and worsened the political discourse and lowered bar of decency.
