The party started late, but supporters stayed on for the speech
The mega rally to be addressed by the Prime Minister was supposed to start at 6 pm, but at 5.50 pm, this was the scene at Jio Gardens in BKC. And people were supposed to come from 1 pm but perhaps it was too hot!
To be fair, the place was all set to welcome the Prime Minister with a beautifully decorated stage.
At 6.30, there was still no sign of him, perhaps for the better, for the place was very far from full.
Like the silence before the storm arrives, similarly, it was all calm. The cloudy and dull weather, the flags waving with the wind, holding the Lotus symbol on them and the gradually-building excitement became apparent as the crowds began to trickle in for a glance at Modi and, more important, to hear for themselves that famous voice. More than 1 lakh chairs had been arranged to hold the masses.
Finally, just before 8 pm, he was there, ecstatically greeted like a rock star by the people still trickling into the venue. By the time he finished, they were there in strength. Nor did he disappoint.
He praised Mumbai to the skies as India’s best state and a strong financial capital of the nation. He talked about Mumbai’s innovative venture capitalists because of which business persons from all over the globe want to settle here. He said it was all due to the last five years of governance by the BJP led by Devendra Fadnavis.
In his own style, which is now very familiar, he mocked the Congress-NCP alliance, made fun of the work they did in the past. Infrastructure development was, anyway, undertaken by the Centre and not the state. He compares the 5-year rule by Congress and by BJP to the vast detriment of the former.
He talked about the 50-year rule of Congress in India, especially Maharashtra, where, he said, no chief minister could even complete a full five-year term, till Fadnavis. The BJP is the most hardworking and loyal party till date, he declared.
He compared the two parties for corruption and development and stated there was no comparison. There was no more corruption now anyway since everything was digital. Thus the development and well-being of the whole country were now well in hand.
It was a heady and mesmerising performance, so much so that one hardly even noticed who the other VIPs were.
Written by Journalism students Martina and Annet Anandraj
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