The Modi
wave surged, swirled and streamed through the streets and by-lanes of
Varanasi on Thursday April 24,2014 as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial
candidate Narendra Modi filed his poll nomination from this Lok Sabha
constituency.
The Modi wave, in the words of his beaming close aide Amit Shah, had become a "tsunami". It was more tsuNaMo, however, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed the non-stop TV footage of the gathering Modi storm as a "media creation" from faraway Dispur in Assam, where he had gone to vote.
The Varanasi spectacle began unfolding at 11am, when Modi landed at the helipad of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), where he garlanded a marble statue of Madan Mohan Malviya, about 30 minutes past scheduled time.
The
helicopter then flew Modi to Kashi Vidyapeeth, from where he reached
Maldahiya crossing in a car and garlanded the black stone statue of
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Although he is known for waving at crowds as a form of greeting, Modi was forced to acknowledge the sea of humanity all around him: he took a complete circle with folded hands, stopping at every quarter of the full turn with a deep bow.
It was the mother of all roadshows. Clad in a milk-white long kurta and churidar pyjama, Modi stood with BJP leaders Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in an open vehicle as it negotiated the 2km distance from Maldahiya to Mind Road in two hours.
"Har Har Modi" chants rent the air as Modi supporters danced and sang all along the way.
At Mind Road, Modi garlanded a bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda before finally reaching the district collectorate to file his nomination papers at 2pm.
Since he was half-an-hour late and his time slot of 1.30pm had been given to some other candidates to file their nomination papers, Modi had to wait another 20 minutes for his turn.
The precise micro-management of the event by the local BJP rank and file was evident as Varanasi residents came out of their houses to welcome Modi.
The Modi route began to fill up as early as 8am. Modi arrived in Varanasi at 10.20am and left at 2.45pm after filing his nomination papers.
Narendra Modi had been expected to deliver a
speech at Mind Road, but he preferred to address the people through his
blog before landing in the city. "Today I embark on a unique and memorable journey from the land of Somnath to the city of Lord Vishwanath.
"Later today I will be filing my nomination papers from Varanasi as the BJP candidate. I would like to thank the leadership of the Party for giving me this opportunity to contest elections from this city that has such a rich history and culture.
"I bow to the party karyakartas who have been working tirelessly on the ground from the time my nomination was announced," Narendra Modi wrote.
Quoting from Mark Twain, he wrote: "Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.
"The spiritual power of this land is exceptional. It drew people from all over the world, who came to this land in search of peace and Moksha.
"It was in Sarnath, that Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining Enlightenment.
"Varanasi is the birthplace of the venerable Sant Ravidas. It was in Benaras that Mahatma Kabir was born, lived and shared his wisdom. Mirza Ghalib described Benaras as 'Kaba-e-Hindustan' and 'Chirag-e-Dair' or the light of the world," Narendra Modi stated.
Narendra Modi also promised to develop Varanasi into a tourist attraction.
"It is my firm belief that once we are able to give the required impetus to tourism, it will not only bring more tourists but also enhance the livelihood of the poor.
"More tourists means more income for those associated with temples, those who are living on the Ghats, those who ride the ferries on the Ganga… the entire town and surrounding areas will receive a much needed facelift," he said.
Narendra Modi didn't forget to mention the apathy of the Rajiv Gandhi government towards the Ganga.
"In 1986 the Government of the day brought the Ganga Action Plan but it merely remained a plan, the action was missing.
"Budgets were allocated but the money was never used for the intended purpose. The condition of the Varuna too is similar. Now is the time for urgent action to solve this anomaly!"
Security Arrangements For Narendra Modi Visit
Massive security arrangements were put in place for Thursday's roadshow for Narendra Modi, who is said to be on the hit list of anti-national organisations.
According to sources, there were over 4,000 security personnel, including teams of NSG, STF, ATS and the Gujarat Police, which were part of the Close Projection Cordon operation to keep the BJP's PM candidate safe when he arrived here to file his nomination papers.
Besides this, over 5,000 policemen were deployed across the city and along the river bank. There were five security cordons around Modi and it was the Gujarat Police which was part of the innermost circle.
The second ring comprised NSG men. Besides these, there were over 200 policemen in the guise of BJP workers around the leader's cavalcade.
Although he is known for waving at crowds as a form of greeting, Modi was forced to acknowledge the sea of humanity all around him: he took a complete circle with folded hands, stopping at every quarter of the full turn with a deep bow.
It was the mother of all roadshows. Clad in a milk-white long kurta and churidar pyjama, Modi stood with BJP leaders Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in an open vehicle as it negotiated the 2km distance from Maldahiya to Mind Road in two hours.
"Har Har Modi" chants rent the air as Modi supporters danced and sang all along the way.
At Mind Road, Modi garlanded a bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda before finally reaching the district collectorate to file his nomination papers at 2pm.
Since he was half-an-hour late and his time slot of 1.30pm had been given to some other candidates to file their nomination papers, Modi had to wait another 20 minutes for his turn.
The precise micro-management of the event by the local BJP rank and file was evident as Varanasi residents came out of their houses to welcome Modi.
The Modi route began to fill up as early as 8am. Modi arrived in Varanasi at 10.20am and left at 2.45pm after filing his nomination papers.
"Later today I will be filing my nomination papers from Varanasi as the BJP candidate. I would like to thank the leadership of the Party for giving me this opportunity to contest elections from this city that has such a rich history and culture.
"I bow to the party karyakartas who have been working tirelessly on the ground from the time my nomination was announced," Narendra Modi wrote.
Quoting from Mark Twain, he wrote: "Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.
"The spiritual power of this land is exceptional. It drew people from all over the world, who came to this land in search of peace and Moksha.
"It was in Sarnath, that Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining Enlightenment.
"Varanasi is the birthplace of the venerable Sant Ravidas. It was in Benaras that Mahatma Kabir was born, lived and shared his wisdom. Mirza Ghalib described Benaras as 'Kaba-e-Hindustan' and 'Chirag-e-Dair' or the light of the world," Narendra Modi stated.
Narendra Modi also promised to develop Varanasi into a tourist attraction.
"It is my firm belief that once we are able to give the required impetus to tourism, it will not only bring more tourists but also enhance the livelihood of the poor.
"More tourists means more income for those associated with temples, those who are living on the Ghats, those who ride the ferries on the Ganga… the entire town and surrounding areas will receive a much needed facelift," he said.
Narendra Modi didn't forget to mention the apathy of the Rajiv Gandhi government towards the Ganga.
"In 1986 the Government of the day brought the Ganga Action Plan but it merely remained a plan, the action was missing.
"Budgets were allocated but the money was never used for the intended purpose. The condition of the Varuna too is similar. Now is the time for urgent action to solve this anomaly!"
Security Arrangements For Narendra Modi Visit
Massive security arrangements were put in place for Thursday's roadshow for Narendra Modi, who is said to be on the hit list of anti-national organisations.
According to sources, there were over 4,000 security personnel, including teams of NSG, STF, ATS and the Gujarat Police, which were part of the Close Projection Cordon operation to keep the BJP's PM candidate safe when he arrived here to file his nomination papers.
Besides this, over 5,000 policemen were deployed across the city and along the river bank. There were five security cordons around Modi and it was the Gujarat Police which was part of the innermost circle.
The second ring comprised NSG men. Besides these, there were over 200 policemen in the guise of BJP workers around the leader's cavalcade.
A bomb disposal squad was sanitising the roads 10 minutes before Modi's vehicle arrived.
No comments:
Post a Comment