PM Modi in Lucknow on Dussehra: Ramlila Ground set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit at Aishbagh in Lucknow. Prime Minister Modi will celebrate Dussehra festival in the city. Express photo by Vishal SrivastavPM Modi in Lucknow on Dussehra: Narendra Modi is in Lucknow for the Dussehra speech and in the meanwhile, former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi are attending the celebrations at a Dussehra function in Delhi, which though vibrant, colourful and which promises to be spectacularly fiery, is no match for the politically volatile event that PM Narendra Modi is attending.
While Manmohan and Sonia attendance is all about watching the celebration of Ramayana and the killing of Lanka’s nefarious King Ravana and his kin by Lord Ram for abducting his wife Sita, the proverbial victory of good over evil, the event at Lucknow is different. Much different.
Narendra Modi speech in Lucknow during the Dussehra rally is all about the killing of the evil of terrorism once and for all. In the wake of the surgical strikes carried out by India in Pakistan occupied Kashmir in which Indian soldiers killed 9 Paksitani armymen and scores of terrorists, the burning of the Ravan effigy has been touted as a victory parade of sorts for the government.
In fact, the Ravana that will be burned in PM Modi’s and others’ presence has the legend written boldly on it: ‘Total destruction of terrorism’.
The hype being built around the event by the Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) has led the political opposition to stand up jointly in protest. From the Congress, to Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Mayawati, political parties have sought to condemn the event. The reason they are citing is that this event is going to be all about chest-thumping by the ruling BJP looking to derive political mileage out of the surgical strikes against Pakistan. Uttar pRadesh is set for assembly elections soon.