En route to Amethi: Curiosity about AAP, a staged protest against Kumar Vishwas

The roads from Lucknow to Amethi were a sea of Aam Aadmi vehicles as hundreds of AAP supporters flocked to the constituency of Congress vice-presdent Rahul Gandhi on Sunday morning. People also joined in large numbers from the neighbouring districts of Jagdishpur and Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh to attend what could be a historic rally by Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas. Image courtesy ibnlive

Vishwas has challenged Gandhi to en electoral duel and has called upon the people of Amethi, earlier represented by Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, to cast off the yoke of dynastic rule and vote the Congress out in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. In a move of some overconfidence and some political bravado, Vishwas has also requested Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to contest from the same constituency.

All along the highway, in villages and small, dusty towns, there is a great deal of curiosity about the Aam Aadmi Party. Confused by the sheer number of cars passing, villagers are flocking to the roadsides to see what the fuss is all about.

"Kejriwal's party is new but it's amazing that thousands are going to the rally of a party that no one even knows properly," says Gordhan Singh from Jagdishpur.

In Jagdishpur, Kumar Vishwas was greeted with black flags, heckling and sloganeering as his cavalcade made its way through the town en route to Amethi. The protestors were  in small groups, less an outburst of rage than a planned political mobilisation.

Most Muslims in these areas have refrained from taking part in the rally but have not really spontaneously opposed it either. As Zulfikar Aslam from Bhoi village in Jagdishpur says, "The people who are protesting are all supporters of a political party. I have no clue even who Kumar Vishwas was leave alone what his comments about Islam were. But recently AAP was campaigning here and so were other political entities who were running anti AAP campaigns."

Kumar Vishwas has found his way into the headlines rather early on in his political career, with the controversy over his comment about a Muharram procession refusing to die down.

On Saturday, at a press conference in Lucknow, Vishwas was heckled and had an egg thrown at him by an angry Muslim youth.

The young man, who identified himself as Saif Zafri, was overpowered by Aam Aadmi Party activists and handed over to police. Zafri identified himself as a member of the Mulayam Youth Brigade and belongs to Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh. He was apparently angry at Vishwas's reported comments on Islam and a Muharram procession.