The trend started by 'Baby Mufflerman' Aavyan Tomar seems to have caught on as not just one but many 'Little Kejriwals' dressed up in his trademark winter wear and sporting a make-believe moustache showed up at the oath-taking ceremony of the Aam Aadmi Party supremo at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday.
At least six infants dressed up as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal turned up at the venue accompanied by their parents and became the cynosure of all eyes. Aavyan Tomar's pictures had gone viral on the vote counting day when he appeared outside the AAP headquarters here, played around in front of the ceremonial platform while Kejriwal addressed the gathering after being sworn-in as the chief minister of Delhi for the third consecutive time.
Tomar, who is little more than a year old, and his parents both attended the grand event as the infant was special invitee at the ceremony hosted at the historic Ramlila Maidan. AAP MLAs Raghav Chadha and Somnath Bharti also were seen taking selfies and playing with Tomar.
But he was not the only 'Little Kejriwal' drawing attention and admiration of the crowd, as five more 'Baby Mufflermen', all belonging to the same family, added joy to the atmosphere. Three brothers, Kashif, Sajid and Wajid from the Mirza family of Old Delhi brought their children, all five infants, aged two to six years, dressed in matching maroon sweater, black trouser and a muffler to boot. The youngest among them, Abu Bakar, son of Sajid Mirza, 32, rode his father's shoulders as he waved a big tricolour in his hands."I am 'Kejriwal'," quipped the Abu, when asked his name, and chanted, 'Lage raho Kejriwal'. Abu goes to KG (kindergarten), so he is "a KGwall", Sajid said in a lighter vein.
His brother, Basit, 6, the eldest among the children of the Mirza family, flashed a victory sign and showed his white 'aam aadmi' cap. Wajid Mirza, Sajid's twin brother, also brought his two sons -- Hadi (5) and Umar (3), and 35-year-old Kashif Mirza, the eldest of the three brothers, brought his son Abdullah (3), the two generations were super excited to attend the event."Our family supports politics which is pro-development and one which does not try to divide people in the name of religions but unite them. During campaign, so much of hatred was being spread and attempts were made to polarise people to gain votes," Sajid said.
"Should our children grow in such an environment or should they see and talk about education, heath and other development metrics," he asked. The Mirza brothers run a shop of disposable products in Sadar Bazar, the business set up buy their father nearly 40 years ago. Asked about the fake moustaches used on children, he said, "Oh, the women in the family daubed 'kajal' (kohl) for the make-believe moustache. And their grandmother bought the maroon sweaters for the five kids, especially for the occasion," he said.
Photographs: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo
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