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After <keyword id="6354944" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword>’s splendid show in the in <keyword id="461643" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-assembly-elections">Delhi Assembly Elections</keyword>, <keyword id="6354814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="prime-minister-Narendra-Modi">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</keyword> called and congratulated ‘<keyword id="2720777" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="muffler-man">muffler man</keyword>’ <keyword id="260213" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arvind-Kejriwal">Arvind Kejriwal</keyword> on his party’s success in the national capital. 
 
Earlier in the run up to the Delhi Assembly Elections, the Prime Minister had urged a crowd of over 45,000 people at Ramlila Maidan to punish Kejriwal for wasting a year as the AAP government had quit just in 49 days. But today, there is no more vicious attack against the AAP chief, rather PM Modi has assured full support of the Centre to the Delhi government, who tweeted this information: 
 
If we believe the news reports, Kejriwal, 46, had requested the Prime Minister for a meeting. And Modi has reportedly agreed to meet him for tea. 
 Not to forget, it was Prime Minister Modi who had won the <keyword id="2128072" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varanasi-Lok-Sabha">Varanasi Lok Sabha</keyword> seat in the <keyword id="2050254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="2014-national-elections">2014 national elections</keyword> by defeating Arvind Kejriwal by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes. 
 This time, too, the BJP was banking on ‘<keyword id="2720776" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modis-magic">Modi’s magic</keyword>’ as the PM had campaigned extensively to assure victory for the party. But Delhi is scripting a different story by choosing ‘muffler man’ over NaMo's charisma.

Delhi Assembly Polls: PM Modi congratulates ‘muffler man’ Kejriwal on AAP's success

Rahul Gandhi’s return to the prominence yesterday has triggered innumerable curious questions related to Rahul’s past few days and <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword>’ future. It seems Sonia Gandhi was waiting for this day and has signalled a comeback plan. 
 
As per a news report by The Economic Times, Congress game plan involves focussing the party as one that will fight for farmers and paint BJP as a ruling party that shows little concern about India's largest occupational group. The <keyword id="87979" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Land-Bill">land Bill</keyword> agitation rally announced earlier and to be held at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan this Sunday, April 19, will be turned into a launch pad for "a big event to boost cadre morale and recapture the space of the principal opposition party", a top Congress leader told the ET. 
 
 
"The drift in the Congress disappeared with Rahul Gandhi's disappearance. Hope it doesn't reappear now that he is back," a former Union minister said. Rahul will be briefed on the Congress plan on Friday by Digvijaya Singh, another Congress leader told the financial daily. 
 Sonia has also sent down the message that some Congress heavyweights, who have traditionally been faction fighters, must bury all differences and work together. One party leader said <keyword id="49103" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ashok-Gehlot">Ashok Gehlot</keyword> has been asked to work with Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath have been asked to cooperate. As have been BS Hooda and Ashok Tanwar in Haryana. 
 
Congress chiefs of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have been asked to bring in crowds. The chief ministers of all the nine Congress-ruled states would also be present as would be Congress leaders. 
 
A group of senior leaders led by AK Antony and Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, BS Hooda and Ashok Gehlot have been given key responsibilities. "A quota has been allotted to each state. The idea is to get as many of our people from different parts so that the message is evenly spread," the leader quoted earlier told the ET. 
 The party also felt that merely focussing on the land Bill would limit its appeal to only land-owning farmers. But revival of farmer suicide, especially in battleground states of Uttar Pradesh and <keyword id="30033" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bihar">Bihar</keyword>, and crop losses are resulting in growing resentment in rural India. 
 
(Image: Reuters) 
 
Congress hopes it could be a beneficiary of this resentment. The party would focus on those affected worst -- sugarcane, cotton, paddy, wheat, and potato farmers. "The idea is to show that BJP's government is inherently antifarmer," a top leader involved in the planning said. The party hopes the "anti-farmer" tag will stick to BJP and would take off from its protests on the land Bill.

The Return of Rahul: Congress suddenly reminded of its opposition status

NEW DELHI: Those who were there will always remember the sea of heads with white caps, tricolours fluttering in the winter wind and the sparkle of hope on every <keyword id="6354944" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword> supporter's face at the packed Ramlila Maidan on Saturday. For them, it wasn't just a swearing-in ceremony; it was an open-air party of the common folk, a showtime for people's power. 
 And the speech that their <keyword id="19496" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="leader">leader</keyword> <keyword id="260213" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Arvind-Kejriwal">Arvind Kejriwal</keyword>, the new <keyword id="5269" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chief-Minister">chief minister</keyword> of Delhi, delivered after the swearing-in ceremony was no ordinary speech either. For him, this was a "tryst with destiny" moment. And he seemed to be speaking straight from the heart when he declared, "The politics of this country had destroyed everything but in these assembly elections the people have shown that honest politics is possible. Elections can be fought with honesty and won with honesty." The crowd, about 80,000 inside and outside the venue, cheered in approval. 
 Many of them had come from far and wide: Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, <keyword id="6358126" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Himachal-Pradesh">Himachal Pradesh</keyword>, Rajasthan, <keyword id="30033" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Bihar">Bihar</keyword>, Telangana, <keyword id="20154" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="tamil-nadu">Tamil Nadu</keyword> and elsewhere. School teacher Nimma Jairam Reddy, 44, travelled for 28 hours from Medak district in Telangana. "In the past 60 years, the difference between the aam aadmi and the amir aadmi has grown. To end it, traditional politics must die and be replaced with moral and modern politics which Kejriwal represents," he said. 
 
Kejriwal's speech was politically mature, and marked by clarity of thought. He spoke of announcing a phone number in two days – a complaint hotline to catch bribe-givers red-handed. He also assuaged fears of the honest bureaucrat. "Today many people tell me, Arvindji, stay alert, because bureaucracy would not let you succeed. I don't believe this. Over the past few days, I have met some Delhi bureaucrats. I have no hesitation in saying that if some people are corrupt, there are several who are highly upright and want to serve the nation," he said. 
 He also urged his partymen too to stay on the right path. "I request my party ministers, MLAs and workers to never be conceited and arrogant. Our struggle will go waste if our MLAs and ministers become arrogant. <keyword id="6356115" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="AAP">AAP</keyword> was formed to overthrow the arrogant parties and I don't want another party to come up to put an end to our arrogance. Even when our volunteers go to mohallas and colonies, they should be humble since we are desh sewaks. We didn't come here to become chief ministers or ministers but to serve the country and we should never forget that we are sewaks." 
 
The anti-graft activist also spoke about the crushing burden of raised expectations. "Sometimes I am very scared as people have pinned their hopes on us and I pray to God to give us courage and keep us on right track so that we don't commit any mistake." 
 
Towards the end of his speech, Kejriwal urged the crowd to take an oath against bribes. Most joined him in this moment of public engagement in the process to bring about positive social change. 
 S Selvaraj was among those who did. He came from a village near the famous Kolli Malai hills in Tamil Nadu. It was a 72-hour <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword> first by bullock cart, followed by bus and train. "I like his concepts of humility and simplicity in politics. That's why I am here," he said. Others spoke of having taken leave from office, even left behind an ailing child, to be there because it was "an extraordinary day" for them. 
 This looked like a real crowd of party workers and common people; not the paid hordes who often arrive in truckloads at political gatherings. This was also a far more relaxed crowd than what had gathered during <keyword id="57766" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Anna-Hazare">Anna Hazare</keyword>'s fast at the same venue in 2011. 
 
A banner indicated the people's mood: Free hugs for Aam Aadmi, it said. No surprise, some supporters carried posters of the film, Nayak, where the hero becomes a chief minister for a day. But they had replaced Anil Kapoor's mug with Kejriwal's. It was evident he was their rock star. 
 
 
 Kejriwal, who had trounced <keyword id="39794" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sheila-Dixit">Sheila Dixit</keyword> in the polls, also took care to name gods of different religions while hailing the win as a miracle (kudrat ka karishma). He thanked "parampita parmeshwar, parmatma, ishwar, allah and wahe guru" for the triumph. Even while paying tribute to late colleague <keyword id="1246005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Santosh-Koli">Santosh Koli</keyword>, he said, "Hindu dharma says that while the body perishes, the soul is immortal. Today, if Santosh's soul can see us or hear us, it will be happy to know that her sacrifice did not go waste." 
 
The gods seem to be smiling on Kejriwal, in any case. In a week when the national capital was often blanketed by grey, unsympathetic clouds, the sun shone brightly on Saturday. There couldn't have been a better day to attend a political gathering or play Test cricket. 
 
Times View : A beautiful moment for our precious democracy 
 
No one could have imagined at the beginning of 2013, or even six months ago, that Arvind Kejriwal would return to the Ramlila Maidan, two and a half years after Anna's big anti-corruption fast, to take oath as chief minister before the year was out. This has been a peaceful political revolution of epic proportions – and we, as a nation, should feel proud. Kejriwal may be the man of the moment, but this not about him – or any one person. This is about the idea of India. We have been called a flawed democracy, and indeed there are times when a sense of hopelessness takes over; but it's also the flaws that help us appreciate beauty when it shines through. There is no greater beauty on earth than to behold the will of the people be given voice without having to resort to violence. So let us pause for a moment to cherish the precious, and yes imperfect, beauty of our democracy. 
 For Kejriwal, the real challenge – of governance – begins now. He has changed the rules of the game, playing the role of an outsider with consummate political savvy. Whether his 'movement' can go national will depend on how wisely he runs Delhi. It will also depend on whether the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword>, having extended support, is willing to give him a fair chance. Its decision to boycott the swearing-in ceremony does not bode well for the future. The party that helped give us this beauty we call democracy should know that it has diminished itself by its churlishness. It should also know that a little grace never hurt, even in politics.

The Day Aam Aadmi Had A Party: Arvind Kejriwal Takes Oaths, Hits All The Right Notes

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Delhi Assembly Polls: PM Modi congratulates ‘muffler man’ Kejriwal on AAP's success

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