At 6 p.m. on Monday, 34-year-old Meenakshi Tomar put her one-year-old son Avyaan Tomar to bed early only to wake him up in the small hours of Tuesday. Ms. Tomar drew Avyaan a moustache using kajal and made him wear a black muffler, a pair of spectacles without glasses and an AAP topi.
The Tomars left their Mayur Vihar house at 5 a.m. for Chief Minister’s residence in Civil Lines. From there, they headed towards the party office at ITO. People gathered inside the office premises started addressing the toddler as “ chotta [young] Kejriwal” and he soon became the centre of attraction with many queuing up to click selfies with him as he played with balloons. “Our daughter had dressed up as little Kejriwal when the AAP national convener [Arvind Kejriwal] had won the election in 2015,” the toddler’s father Rahul told The Hindu . “We are using the same muffler for our son,” he added.
“It is up to them to decide what to become but if my children can do 10% of the social work that Kejriwal does, then it will be great. I will be happy,” Mr. Tomar said.
When asked about the idea behind dressing up his children as Kejriwal, he said: “When they understand that their parents have a role model, then they will also be interested in it.” By 4 p.m., Avyaan, was tired and started crying. His mother said: “The security guards had told us that ‘sir [CM] wants to meet him’ and we are waiting for it. My son is very tired and will now start crying.”
By 4.50 pm, after some failed attempts to meet Mr. Kejriwal, the family decides to leave the party office. “We have been waiting from 2 p.m. to meet him. They should have told us earlier,” Mr. Tomar said before leaving the office.
