Arvind Kejriwal's oath-taking ceremony: IITians come to cheer new Delhi CM

NEW DELHI: “How often does your friend become the PM or CM?” asked Saikat Sarkar, 50, rhetorically in response to a question as to why he travelled all the way from Kolkata to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Delhi’s new chief minister on Saturday. Sarkar and Arvind Kejriwal lived in the same hostel in IIT Kharagpur.

Kejriwal’s friends from the IIT circuit have been his pillar of strength over the past three years. For them, the swearingin ceremony was a proud moment in their lives. Sarkar, who works for a multinational company in Kolkata, was accompanied by three other friends from IIT Kharagpur.

Each of them had supported Kejriwal’s campaign in some way or the other. Arvind Jha, 51, who runs a software business, was a student of computer science at IIT Kharagpur and three years senior to Kejriwal. He helped the party with its social media strategy and mobile applications.

Prasenjit Pati, 46, who was in a batch junior to Kejriwal, and Subroto Saha, 47, who also runs a software business, helped with mobile applications and funding, respectively. “I got in touch with him at the time he started his party. I was impressed with his idea of swaraj and clean politics,” Jha told ET Magazine.

The four admit they were surprised by Kejriwal’s decision to enter politics. “He was always sensitive towards the cause of society, but who knew he would enter politics,” said Saha. “He was a nice straightforward guy. I had no idea either,” said Sarkar. Interestingly, neither of them criticized Kejriwal’s decision to quit power. “That was his decision to make. And we all can see the result of that today,” quipped Sarkar.