Amid the chants of “Saari Party Dekh Li, Ab Ki Baar Ketli [We have tested all parties, now it is teapot’s turn]” and drumbeats, a crowd of men holding afloat huge aluminium teapots tied to shafts, make their way through narrow, mud lanes into the residential colony behind the Haldaur market in the Nagina Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh. At the head of the crowd is Chandrashekhar Azad, national president of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram), a four-year-old political outfit, that is fighting its first Lok Sabha election.
Ketli or teapot is their election symbol. With polling just 10 days away, the campaign fever is raising. The Hindu met Mr. Azad on Saturday as he went door-to-door, asking for votes. Just an hour earlier, BSP leader and Mayawati’s heir apparent Akash Anand, in his debut campaign speech, addressed a modest crowd just 30 km away. Mr. Anand does not name Mr. Azad but warns the crowd not to be “misled” by the “messiah” and not to fall for his rescue act. The reference is not lost on them.
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