The AAP has invited one-year-old Avyaan Tomar, who had dressed up as party chief Arvind Kejriwal on the day of the Delhi Assembly election results and won hearts both on the ground and online, to Mr. Kejriwal’s oath-taking ceremony on Sunday.
The Hindu had reported how Avyaan and his family left the party headquarters on Tuesday after failing to meet Mr. Kejriwal after hours of waiting. Avyaan was dubbed as “baby mufflerman”, “chotta Kejriwal” and “baby Kejriwal” after photos of him sporting a black muffler, an AAP topi, a moustache and a pair of spectacles went viral.
“Big Announcement: Baby Mufflerman is invited to the swearing in ceremony of @ArvindKejriwal on 16th Feb. Suit up Junior!” the AAP said in a tweet on Thursday, along with a photo of Avyaan.
Interestingly, the Tomars had dressed up their elder daughter as “little Kejriwal” when Mr. Kejriwal won the election in 2015.
When asked about the idea behind dressing up his children as Mr. Kejriwal, Avyaan’s father Rahul Tomar said, “When they understand that their parents have a role model, then they will also be interested in it from a early age.”
On Tuesday, the day of the results, the Tomars left their house in Mayur Vihar in East Delhi around 5 a.m. for the Chief Minister’s residence in Civil Lines. From there, they reached the party headquarters at ITO around 10 a.m. and stayed till around 5 p.m. Avyaan was the centre of attraction at the party headquarters, with many queuing up to click selfies with him as he played with balloons.
However, by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Avyaan became tired and started crying as one person after another took him in their arms to pose for selfies. “The security guards had told us that ‘Sir [CM] wants to meet him’ and we were waiting for it. My son is very tired and will now start crying,” his mother had said.
By 4.50 p.m., after failed attempts to meet Mr. Kejriwal, the family left the party office with a red-and-white garland they had brought for him.