The day began with Arvind Kejriwal arriving at the Ahmedabad airport around 8.30 am. Immediately after the customary garlands and anti-Sheila Dikshit and anti-Narendra Modi slogans, Kejriwal embarked on his four-day Gujarat Yatra in an open jeep.
Trailing behind Kejriwal were several dozen vehicles belonging to AAP workers and the media. As locals waiting by the roadside sipped tea, the sight of Kejriwal sitting now in the front seat of an Innova was enough for some to say, "
topi wale aaye".
Kejriwal's first stop was 115 km later at Echhvada village. Under a medium-sized tree in front of a temple, Kejriwal sat cross-legged surrounded by about 200 villagers - many of whom - with their trademark topis - seemed to be AAP supporters.
Kejriwal began quizzing the crowd. Water, electricity, healthcare, education, agriculture. What had Modi done in the past 12 years?
Largely the answers were all in the negative, prompting Kejriwal to pose this question: "Why did you vote for Modi?"
A few hours later as we passed through Radhanpur in Patan district, over 150 protestors were waiting for Kejriwal's cavalcade to pass. As soon as he did, the slogans began, the black flags were waved. They claimed they weren't BJP workers but their posters screamed "AK is a Congress agent".
As the police tried to push the crowd that was closing in around his car, the former Delhi Chief Minister seemed unperturbed. The windows of his car were opened.
And then there was utter confusion. Reports came in that Kejriwal had been detained, but the police wasn't confirming what happened. We knew he was inside the Radhanpur police station. As AAP workers turned restless, after around 10 minutes, the man himself emerged and alleged that the police was harassing him by alleging that he didn't have the permission for a road show that's needed now that the code of conduct is in place for the elections. The Gujarat police insisted he wasn't detained, just brought to safety for his protection.
The truth is still unclear. What isn't is that Kejriwal's tour of Gujarat will be braided with action and controversy.
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