While the Bharatiya Janata Party announced that it was expecting one lakh supporters to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally here on Saturday, the Delhi Police pegged the number at 35,000.
Police sources said the party had asked that preparations be made for 75,000 attendees in all.
In a statement, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay “thanked the people of Delhi and the BJP workers for making the rally at Ramlila Maidan successful”.
However, party sources said the “poor turnout” had angered the party’s central leadership. The turnout may have disappointed the leadership, but the rally still saw attendance from most parts of Delhi.
Since the prospect of fresh elections has been in the air for months now, many were happy to finally see a big event being organised and the chance to hear the Prime Minister speak.
“I have come all the way from Dwarka just to see Modi ji and hear his plans for Delhi,” said Rakesh Singh, a factory worker.
“The BJP does not have many recognisable faces in Delhi, but since he is here, I feel he can take a direct interest in our problems.”
With the front portion of the grounds occupied by the stage and media enclosure, many decided to gather in small groups at the back, where tall TV screens were put up to show each speech.
One of these groups, a contingent from Haryana, had come to show support for their new Chief Minister M.L. Khattar and “Modi ji ”.
“The hope we have after our new Chief Minister, the people of Delhi should get by voting for the BJP government. The Aam Aadmi Party let them down badly,” said Jiten Ram, one of the members of the group.
Many of those present had come with family members or community groups like fellow members from their residents’ welfare associations.
They pointed out that Delhi was in urgent need of a strong government, or indeed, any government, since crucial components of the city had just stopped functioning.
“ My neighbourhood suffers from water supply-related issues and even things like road repairs take a long time to get completed now. Hopefully, a new BJP government can ensure these issues are sorted,” said a Mahipalpur resident.
