Amitabh Bachchan to host PM Modi govt's 2-year anniversary event at India Gate

A 731 kg laddoo, with Lord Ganesha carved on it, will be distributed as “prasad” in Delhi.

Come Thursday (May 26), the nation will celebrate “Vikas Parv” to mark two years of the Narendra Modi government. There will be cutting of cakes, preparing of laddoos (including a special one in Delhi weighing 731 kg), and, the biggest attraction of all, superstar Amitabh Bachchan hosting a five-hour-long show on Saturday at India Gate to highlight the government’s achievements, that will be telecast live nationwide. Symbolism matters in politics. And the BJP intends to unleash a high-scale PR blitzkrieg.

The party’s historic election victory in Assam, that has a nearly 34 per cent Muslim population, will be used by the lotus brigade as a symbol of the BJP reaching out to all communities. Two days before he completes two years in power, the Prime Minister sent out this signal from Iran, on the completion of a landmark visit to the Islamic republic: “Once minds are made, the distance between Kashi and Kashan is only half a step.” This signal, the BJP believes, could help the party in the next major electoral battlefield, Uttar Pradesh, that has a Muslim population of around 30 per cent.

Veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani might have been upset at the lost chance for a shot at the top job. He may have pointed fingers at the Modi government in his blogs. But the old warhorse and the party’s “margdarshak” will nonetheless travel to Gujarat to celebrate “Vikas Parv” and address a rally to tell the people about the Modi government’s achievements.

With 200 rallies planned and all ministers expected to fan out to talk of the government’s “success stories”, the Vikas Parv will continue for 21 days.