More than 4,000 women on Saturday flocked to an open field to tie rakhis to local BJP MLA Vishvas Sarang.
As Mr. Sarang entered the field in Subhash Nagar to the thumping beats of Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka , waving at women and children with an arm dangling with rakhis, the host announced: “We’ll not call him an MLA today. He is our bhaiyya (elder brother).”
Dhurwati Yadav, who has been attending the week-long event since 2009, when it began, said: “Since bhaiyya invited us, we had to come”.
After waiting in line 15 minutes, she tied him a rakhi, bearing faces of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. In return, she received a gift — a wallet — and a free meal. Last year, each woman got an umbrella.
For the past one week, about 100-150 women BJP workers knocked on each door of the area, part of the Narela constituency that Mr. Sarang represents, to invite women to the event.
Mamata Goswami, a worker in-charge of one of the wards, said more than 6,000 invitation receipts were collected, each having the invitee’s name, address and phone number.
The invitation read: “It is because of the love and blessings of you sisters that the path of progress undertaken by this brother has lit up”.
Surrounded by boys feverishly dancing to the music, she said only women between 18 and 60 are allowed to tie rakhis to the MLA.
