The native village of Chief Minister – Saifai – gears up for a gala function to celebrate 76th birthday of Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday with main attraction being the performance of AR Rahman.
It would be Rahman’s maiden performance in Saifai. He twitted through his twitter handle @arrahman to declare that he would be performing to promote green UP. His tweet read: “The state of UP plants over 10 lakh trees in one day. I’ll be performing on the 21st of November at Saifai to encourage a green UP”
The village has been decorated like a bride with all path leading to the Athletic stadium, where this function will be held, illuminated with colourful lights and flowers. Hundred of gates and hordings have been erected to welcome the guests.
The guest list includes former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, RJD president lalu Prasad, Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and several others. Invitations have also been sent to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, former SP leader Amar Singh and several business tycoons.
A plantation drive will also be undertaken in Saifai on Saturday when Mulayam, A R Rahman, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav along with Mohammad Azam Khan would plant saplings.
The guests would be treated to Italian, Chinese and Thai delicacies. The menu will have dishes from different states of India. The catering is being done by experts from Delhi and Mumbai.
The main programme in the village will begin at 7 pm at the indoor athletics stadium and Mulayam will cut the cake at the stroke of the midnight.
Municipal Board, Etawah will be organising an All India Kavi Sammelan on November 22 while Zila Panchayat will hold separate functions at different places. The Rural Institute of Medical Sciences, Saifai, will also organise a function where Director will cut a while students will present a cultural programme.
Chief Minister will unfurl a 207-feet high Tricolour at Janeshwar Mishra Park on November 22.
Across the UP, SP workers will celebrate Mulayam’s birthday in over 50,000 villages and distribution sweets. Major markets in every district will also be illuminated across the state. SP’s state office will hold separate programme for Mulayam’s birthday on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the opposition leaders in the state have criticised the government for spending money on the birthday celebrations. BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak aid when 50 districts have been declared drought hit how can the government spend crores on birthday celebration.
UP Congress spokesperson Amarnath Agarwal said this function was being organized with public money. “This is just waste of money. The Samajwadi Party used to criticise Mayawati for her birthday celebrations and now it is doing the same,” he said.