Maurice Nagar chowk in Delhi University doesn’t exactly look like a place that could host a bustling public event. But, it did once — four decades ago. Old timers recall that a huge crowd had gathered here in 1977 when Arun Jaitley was welcomed in a public reception on his release from jail after the Emergency came to an end. Before being jailed for anti-Emergency agitation, Jaitley had been elected as the president of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1974.
The hero’s welcome that Jaitley received that day as the ascendant leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was one of the few, or perhaps the last, occasions when he had the chance bask in the warm glory of public affection. Thereafter, his political journey was more about taking the Lutyens’ insider route to make inroads into public offices. Popular vote eluded him but that didn’t come in the way of his rise in the power corridors of Delhi.
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