Radhakrishan Nair has been a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter for the last 40 years. On Wednesday, Nair, who is in his mid 60s, took the Metro from Rohini in North Delhi to Shastri Park just to attend BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s mega rally in the Capital.
The Gujarat CM will be addressing 185 Bharat Vijay rallies in 295 constituencies.
Shastri Park is part of the North East Delhi parliamentary constituency held by JP Aggarwal of Congress. But on Wednesday, as excited Delhiites trekked to the rally ground — the DDA park at Shastri Park — no one spoke about Aggarwal or the Congress. The discussions were either about Modi or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal.
Nair, of course, held forth on what the AAP didn’t do. "They took money from the Ford Foundation, slashed the water bill and then ran away. This time the BJP will gain," he said, as the BJP's new anthem — composed by Prasoon Joshi — blared in the background.
Bhojpuri matinee idol and BJP candidate Manoj Tiwari got up on the dais and belted out a song drawing cheers from the crowd. "He is a real hero. I am here for him," said Shyam Lal, originally from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
Bhojpuri matinee idol and BJP candidate Manoj Tiwari got up on the dais and belted out a song drawing cheers from the crowd. "He is a real hero. I am here for him," said Shyam Lal, originally from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
But beyond the music, star power and the political rhetoric, the excitement to see Modi was palpable.
Said Ashok Kumar, who lives a stone’s throw from the DDA Park: "This is a colony of labourers and daily wagers. We get off very late from work. But even then we found time to come here and see Modi."