Hail the WagonR: If Mamata rules with her blue Zen, why not Kejriwal?

New Delhi: One of the reporters covering the Aam Aadmi Party has a nice anecdote to relate about Arvind Keriwal and his love for his weather beaten blue WagonR.

One day, much before Kejriwal had taken up the challenge to become Delhi’s Chief Minister, he asked a partycolleagueto take out a car for an urgent meeting. Thinking that the ailing Kejriwal, who had coughed the night through, would be more comfortable in a big car, this guy promptly drove up an SUV. Predictably, Kejriwal saw red and rebuked thiscolleague saying he cannot be seen in a big, expensive car and will stick to his WagonR, thank you.

Kejriwal is a great believer in symbolism and using a small car in car crazy Delhi is just that - a statement that fuel guzzlers be damned. The mango man CM will stick to a small car which uses less fuel, costs less and takes up least road space among all four wheelers. Its another matter that the car may not even be his since a story done by India Today magazine says it was donated to the party by an AAP supporter!

But he is not alone in frugality, at least when it comes to owning cars. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh owns a 1996 batch Maruti 800 - the smallest Indian car till the Tata Nano arrived. And former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit never owned a car for all her 15 years in office though she drove around in an official Grand Vitara, which costssomewherearound 15 lakh. Compare that with Keriwal’s WagonR which costs only a fourth of the Grand Vitara and you get the symbolism - the new CM wants everyone to know big cars are a waste of money, fuel and road space. Will Delhiites follow him and junk snazzy SUVs for small cars?

Kejriwal has not asked for an official car, he will certainly not install a ’lal batti’ atop the WagonR and continue to use this tiny car for travels all over Delhi. Truly, Kejriwal is doing unbelievable publicity for Maruti Suzuki India, which makes the WagonR.

In its heydays, the WagonR has been one of the best sellers, after the Alto, for Maruti. At one time - believe it or not - the company was pitching this car for investment bankers with dollar salaries!!! Another tag line which ran with the WagonR showed a man sitting inside with the caption “A man full of ideas”. No one can accuse Kejriwal of being short on ideas.

It seems the WagonR is as much of a talking point of Kejriwal’s life as the scooter was for Rishi Kapoor in his and wife Neetu’s comeback movie ‘Do Dooni Char’. The Kapoor family finally graduated to a car after insurmountable troubles but Kejriwal seems to be in no mood to move up the car hierarchy.

Last week, an IANS reporter followed the newly crowned Chief Minister in his blue car all the 16 km from his home in Kaushambi to the Delhi Vidhan Sabha and described the shock of Delhiites when an ordinary looking car with an ordinary looking guy pulled up at a the red light. No VIP movement was communicated to the traffic cops, notrafficwas stalled and in fact - a complete rarity in Delhi - no traffic signals were broken either.

I still remember my amusement at seeing an old light blue Zen (which is now called Estilo) stop beside my car at a signal close to Parliament House onewintryafternoon. Bengal’s firebrand CM Mamata Banerjee was sitting in the front passenger seat, clad in a white cotton saree. No blinking lights, no security, no fanfare what so ever.

If Mamata can rule a state with her blue Zen, can Kejriwal be far behind?