The BJP’s city unit is expecting a turnout of five lakh people at the “Maha Garjana” rally to be addressed by the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at the Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) grounds in Bandra Kurla complex in north-central Mumbai on Sunday.
Expected to galvanise the BJP cadre across Maharashtra ahead of the 2014 lok Sabha polls, Modi’s impending public rally in Mumbai has not only aroused considerable interest among his followers, but it has also sent waves of anxiety among the leaders of the Congress-led ruling Democratic Front (DF) in the State.
Given that Modi used to be a tea vendor at a railway station before he entered politics, the BJP has — as a symbolic gesture — specially invited 10,000 tea vendors from various parts of Mumbai and Thane to attend Sunday’s rally. “The chai-wallahs are our special invitees,” a party spokesperson said. Similarly, the party has also reached out to pheri-wallahs” (street vendors) from various parts of the country’s commercial capital for Modi’s rally. They have also been invited for the rally.
The party has elaborate arrangements for the rally at the MMRDA ground. “We have converted all the six playgrounds at the MMRDA open space into a public rally venue. This is for the first time that such a huge public rally is being organised by any political party at this venue. In the past, the Congress wanted to organise a similar rally for Sonia Gandhi but backed out at the last moment fearing lack of sufficient attendance at her rally. No other party has dared to organize a rally on the scale we are doing tomorrow,” a senior BJP leader said.
Ahead of the rally, the BJP has gone out on a spree to invite people across the metropolis through SMSes, sound recordings of state party president’s invitation to people and other means like putting huge hoardings across the city. The party has reportedly booked nearly 2,000-odd buses and made reservations on 200 trains to ferry party workers to the rally venue from across Maharashtra.
Not wanting to take any chances, the city police have made elaborate security arrangements for Modi’s rally. They have chalked a detailed security and traffic plan. In all, the city police would deploy 10,000 of its personnel in and around the venue.
Dwelling upon the security arrangements made for Modi’s rally, Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said: “We have been preparing for Modi’s rally for the past one month. Not only have we made elaborate arrangements in and around the rally venue, but we have also beefed up security in the entire metropolis. For the first time, we will be deploying seven layered security at the rally venue”.
Meanwhile, the city BJP has invited Consul Generals of several countries based in Mumbai, for Modi’;s rally. Among the Consul Generals who are expected to attend the rally include the ones from the United States, Russia, Australia, Rwanda and Zambia.
Though one expected that it would recall the invitation extended to US Consul General based in Mumbai in the wake of diplomatic row over ill-treatment meted out by the Obama administration to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the BJP has not done so.
“We don’t recall an invitation after giving it. But we are sure that the US attitude is not befitting. We always treat our guests with respect but won’t compromise on the issue of national pride and national power,” BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said on Friday, while justifying his party’s decision not to recall the invitation for Modi’s rally extended to the US Consul General based in Mumbai.ust admit it that we failed to defend some of our (government’s) own policies,” Patel said while addressing FICCI’s 86th Annual General Meeting.
Elaborating further he said, “I think political executive must be able to drive change. That is going to be possible when you institute a sense of confidence in people who deliver and execute, that we are standing behind you.”