Mumbai: A brief 15-minute inauguration of the new govt at Azad Maidan Thursday crowned the tense electoral battle of the past weeks. The dais became a political seismic zone as the top brass of the BJP and allied parties arrived from all parts of the country to savour the conquest of one of India’s largest states. Endless rows of seats were occupied by spectators, among them celebrities from cinema, business and sports, and on the periphery, people were jostling for standing space.
A senior police official said 35,000 to 40,000 people converged at the site. Large screens and adequate acoustics were installed in order to reach the last viewer. After performances by artistes such as Kailash Kher, the formal ceremony began with the national anthem followed by the state song ‘Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha’.
A loud roar went up as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived upon the dais at 5.30pm. Cheers punctuated the entire ceremony—when newly anointed CM Devendra Fadnavis uttered the word ‘mukhyamantri’, when deputy CM Eknath Shinde mentioned his parents’ names, and again when deputy CM Ajit Pawar was inaugurated. Pawar opted not to swear on God or a holy book, merely stating, “I solemnly swear.”
The radius of Azad Maidan including CSMT railway station and BMC headquarters turned into a sea of saffron as Sena-BJP party cadre came dressed in orange saris, turbans and ethnic kurtas. Sena women were dressed solely in orange while BJP mahila karyakartas were given saffron-green saris bordered with lotus motifs.
The CSMT subway reverberated with chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as crowds gathered and dispersed.
Many party workers carried placards featuring images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah. After the oath-taking ceremony, scores of party workers, who had rushed to CSMT, were seen discussing how brief the function was.
One side-effect of the celebration, though, was the inconvenience that office-goers faced as public transport was truncated. Hordes of commuters were seen walking from Mantralaya to CSMT. Among them, a pregnant woman said taxis were unavailable too. “I waited very long and finally decided to walk to CSMT station,” she said.
Senior citizens said they were delayed and missed their trains and young sportspersons said they missed their practice sessions.
