Azad Maidan gears up for swearing-in ceremony of Mahayuti government

Special arrangements have been made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters at the historic south Mumbai ground

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pulled out the stops to ensure the swearing-in ceremony of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government at Azad Maidan today is a grand event. Special arrangements have been made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters at the historic south Mumbai ground, along with a separate seating arrangement for 2,000 VVIPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mumbai, India - Dec. 3, 2024: Preparation for Swearing ceremony at Azad Maidan, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Among the dignitaries attending the ceremony are more than a dozen Union ministers, at least four chief ministers of NDA-led state governments, former Maharashtra chief ministers, foreign diplomats, actors from the Hindi and Marathi film industries, and religious gurus of various sects.

The BJP wants to avoid a repeat of Modi’s pre-poll campaign rally at Shivaji Park in November, when around one-third of the ground was empty. The BJP’s central leadership was upset with the party’s city unit due to this. As a result, nearly 15,000 people from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have been invited to Azad Maidan this time. Each of them will be given t-shirts with the “Ek hain toh safe hain” (We’re safe only if we’re united) slogan coined by Modi in the build-up to Maharashtra assembly polls.

A large contingent of BJP workers and Fadnavis’s supporters from his hometown, Nagpur, will also attend the swearing-in, which has been scheduled on the first Thursday of Margashirsha, the ninth month of the Hindu calendar, which is supposed to be highly auspicious.

More than 2,000 beneficiaries of the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana have also been invited. The welfare scheme, launched by the Mahayuti government earlier this year, provides a monthly allowance of ₹1,500 to underprivileged women. With over 25 million beneficiaries, its success was regarded as one of the major reasons behind the Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the assembly polls. The Mahayuti has promised to increase the monthly allowance under the scheme to ₹2,100 after the polls.

Modi is expected to land at Mumbai airport and then take a chopper to the heliport at INS Shikra in Colaba, from where he will travel to Azad Maidan by road. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has put up several posters welcoming Modi along the route from INS Shikra to Azad Maidan, which is being seen as an indication that the outgoing chief minister will join Fadnavis’s cabinet.

Other Union ministers who will attend the ceremony are Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bhupender Yadav, Ramdas Athavale, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chirag Paswan, and HD Kumaraswamy.

Four NDA chief ministers–Yogi Adityanath, Bhupendra Patel, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nitish Kumar– have confirmed their attendance. The Mahayuti has also invited former Maharashtra chief ministers Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Prithviraj Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Narayan Rane.

At least 3,500 police personnel and 520 officers have been deployed for security arrangements, an official said. A platoon of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), Quick Response Team (QRT), Riots Control Team, Delta, combat teams and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad have also been deployed, the official added.

Security arrangements have also been made considering the traffic congestion on roads leading to Azad Maidan. More than 280 traffic police personnel, including senior police officers, will ensure smooth vehicular movement, the official said, adding that traffic has also been diverted on some routes due to the ceremony. As there is no parking facility at Azad Maidan, the traffic police have requested people attending the event to use public transport, especially local trains.

With inputs from PTI