BJP leaders busy mobilising people for Trump roadshow; 14 districts identified

AHMEDABAD: Over the next two days BJP leaders across Gujarat will be busy mobilising crowds to line up along the route for the much-publicised roadshow of US President Donald Trump from Ahmedabad airport to Motera stadium on Monday.
Party insiders here said 14 out of the state’s 33 districts have been identified to mobilise maximum crowd. These are mostly in north and central Gujarat.

Trump had recently said “seven million” people were likely to be there for his welcome. Some BJP leaders said the number of participants for the event would be over one lakh.

The maximum number of people — nearly 22,000 —are expected from the Ahmedabad region, as per the strategy decided by party leaders, while 10,000 people each are expected from Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districts.

Every district head and tehsil head of the party has been asked to coordinate with administration officials to ensure people reach the city by 10.30 am, official said. More than 800 government-run and private buses will be put to use on that day, they said.

“Party heads in Kheda and Anand in central Gujarat have been given the responsibility of bring 7,000 and 5,000 people, each,” a district head of the party said on condition of anonymity. “Botad has been asked to send 5,000 people, while the district of Vadodara and its nearby villages will send 15,000 people. There are people tracking the movement of crowds to make it smooth,” the party leader said.

The ‘Namaste Trump’ event at the Motera stadium is being modelled on last year’s ‘Howdy Modi’ extravaganza at NRG stadium in Houston when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US. That event had been hosted by the Texas Indian Forum, and BJP had said it was paid for by party volunteers.

A Donald Trump Nagarik Abhivadan Samiti, chaired by mayor Bijal Patel, has been constituted to organise and coordinate the ‘Namaste Trump’ event.

The seating arrangement at the stadium has been decided and specific colour code has been assigned to every district, an official said. “We have used codes such as red, pink, light purple, light green, sky blue and others to keep a track of the crowd and make the management easier,” the person said.All Yuva Morcha representatives, office bearers of the party, various teams involved in sports activities, and people working in the organisation of 570 mandals across the state, totalling about 20,000 will also participate in the event, party members said.

Districts such as Aravalli, Mahisagar and Panchmahal will also send about 2,000 and 1,000 people each even though it would take them more than four hours to reach here, a party member said.

“There are three kinds of seats at the stadium,” a member of the organising team said. “Seventy-five boxes have been reserved for top delegates. A huge portion of the stadium with a seating capacity of 1,20,000 is for the masses.”