Modi meet in Mangaluru: Amidst festivity, Oppn parties plan own show

Mangaluru: Even as this culturally and politically vibrant city on the western seaboard is looking forward to a hint from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bettering the lives of the people when he addresses a public meeting on Friday, festivity amid sarcasm and bad publicity is wrought all over the face of the city.

Festivity is due on the third day of the Ganesh Festival on Friday. Many Ganesh idols are consecrated all over the city and will be immersed towards the end of the. The BJP has decorated the city with posters, banners and buntings of its party colours. Being a BJP-dominated area, Mangaluru in particular and Dakshina Kannada, in general, has great hopes for Modi's speech here.

In the same breath, the cynics and critics have termed his visit to the city to show the might of public support the BJP has under his leadership. Communists and the Congress party have their own ways of looking at Modi's visit. Muneer Katipalla the young leader of the CPI (M) has alleged that the BJP has misused the official machinery for gathering crowds at the public meeting of Modi in the city. Katipalla said the BJP leaders have arm-twisted the officials of all levels and have been given a target to bring so many people and engage vehicles at government cost and many of them at their costs, this is also a type of corruption. Katipalla stated.

UT Khader deputy leader of the state assembly is of the opinion that Modi's visit to the city was nothing but a show of strength organised by the state government, what was the need of the district administration to declare a holiday for educational institutions on Friday coinciding with Modi's event in the city. The Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada Dr KV Rajendra had declared a holiday for the educational institutions citing the reason of the 'Visarjana' of Ganapathy idols in the city on Friday.

The Youth Congress of Dakshina Kannada has organised a demonstration in the core of the city at the Clock tower circle. They will wear costumes of a gas cylinder, petrol dispenser and many other commodities that have registered a steep hike in prices.

Though the venue of Modi's visit has been made rainproof for over 2 lakh people to comfortably fit in, the BJP leaders are nervous that the numbers would cross that, the intelligence puts the number at 3 lakh people. The city will be flooded with over 10,000 vehicles in the morning hours and invitees, guests and the general public have been asked to take their places 2 hours before the PM arrived in the city after his engagement in Kochi where he will launch India's first aircraft carrier IAC Vikrant at Kochi shipyard.

When in Mangaluru he will first visit the Mangaluru Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) and launch the desalination unit in a bid to make it 'Atmanirbhar' to the extent of fresh water needed for the Refinery operations. This project with a capital expenditure of Rs 677 crores. The plant is capable of producing 30 MLD water which accounts for around 35% of the refinery complex water requirement. The project has clocked around 3.5 lakhs man-days which have generated jobs for around 450 workforces per day over a period of two years. He will later go to the New Mangaluru Port and launch two ambitious projects.