Direct confusion

The keenly-awaited first "Janta darbar" of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sitting outside the Delhi Secretariat along with his ministers to listen to public grievances was so chaotic that it had to be suspended mid-way. Overzealous aam janta climbed over barricades in their efforts to reach out to the CM, compelling security men to step in and whisk him away. Ironically, six months ago in an interview with Business Standard when it was suggested to him that such experiments in "direct democracy" were suitable for small republics such as Greece but not for a city as large as Delhi, Kejriwal had objected and insisted that it was "definitely workable." The new CM apologised for the chaos and spoke of better management next time.