Modi mania grips city

Sudheer Goutham

Crowded shopping malls, parks and other public places in the city wore a deserted look on Sunday as the entire crowd seemed to have descended at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium. All the roads led to the stadium at the center of the city where, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign leader and Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi kicked off the party’s campaign for the 2014 polls. Over a lakh people, mainly from twin cities, surrounding districts and some from other states, poured in at the venue just to listen to the possible prime ministerial candidate of the BJP.

The stadium was jam packed with the overflowing crowd. Thousands faced disappointment as they could not get a chance to enter the stadium. At the special gate for women’s entry, the massive size of the crowd swelled which led to a stampede like situation. Later, those who were left out had to contend with the LED screens erected outside the stadium. Youth mostly dominated the gathering who were mobilised from the neighbouring districts in buses and trucks. There were also thousands of people, who thronged to the venue from outside the city, making their own arrangements.

Unlike other political public meetings, where mainly young men were seen participating, girls including students and corporate employees took part in large numbers. There was a feeling of hope and excitement among the youth to listen to Modi’s speech. “Like the way Gujarat was crafted into a developed state and created many opportunities, we hope Modi would do the same to the entire country if he becomes the Prime Minister,” said Swati and her group of friends who work at TCS.

A group of excited engineering students who came all the way from Warangal on their own vehicles said, “We believe that the education system in India will change for the better under his ruling and it will be made corruption free.” Meanwhile, inside the stadium, it was senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu whose speech entertained the young crowd who cheered him every now and then.

Narendra Modi started off his speech in broken Telugu which he read from a script. Modi criticised the UPA government on various fronts, including the recent killing of Indian Jawans in Jammu and Kashmir by a Pakistani group.
Beside raising the slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘Jai Andhra’, Modi ended his speech in classic Obama style, “We can do. We will do.”