THE news of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on March 21 left many in Delhi upset, including 33-year-old Sonu Kumar, a shop owner. A resident of Sunder Nagri in northeast Delhi—Kejriwal’s karambhoomi where he began his anti-corruption movement over three decades ago—Kumar states that everyone in the locality knows Kejriwal. “He used to work in a small office nearby from where he ran his campaign, Parivartan,” Kumar recalls. As a teen, Kumar used to regularly visit the Ramlila Maidan in 2011-12 during the Lokpal movement. “I used to go to hear his speeches. Everyone in our neighbourhood joined the protests. We wore Anna caps (named after anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare) and joined the agitation. We all believed in him,” he recalls. Over the years, he watched Kejriwal continue his fight against corruption from the streets. In 2013, Kejriwal sat on a hunger fast for two weeks against exorbitant electric and water tariffs. It was here that the movement started taking a political shape in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “It happened in this very neighbourhood,” says Kumar. “He is such a simple man, always dresses and speaks humbly like all of us. I can’t believe they are accusing him of corruption now,” Kumar says with a sigh.
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