Amit Shah meets Shinde-Fadnavis twice during daylong Mumbai tour
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was on a private visit to the city for a family function on Sunday, attended the live broadcast of the 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address
Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was on a private visit to the city for a family function on Sunday, attended the live broadcast of the 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address. There was no formal political meeting held during this visit but Shah held brief discussions with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis twice in the course of the day.
As Shah’s event—a wedding at Charkop in Kandivali—was in the afternoon, Shah informed the Mumbai BJP that he would attend the ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address in Mumbai. The BJP’s Mumbai unit had made arrangements for the live broadcast of the 100th episode at 5,000 places in the city and suburbs.
The Keshavrao Ghaisas auditorium in Vile Parle, which is close to the airport, was selected for Shah. Shinde and Fadnavis welcomed Shah at the airport at 10.30 and proceeded to the auditorium, where Shah listened to the 100th episode with other BJP leaders, including Shinde, Fadnavis, Mumbai BJP unit head Ashish Shelar, local MLA Parag Alavani and MP Poonam Mahajan. There were no formal speeches by anyone.
After the event Shah went to a place in Vile Parle for about 20 minutes with Shinde and Fadnavis. The pending Supreme Court verdict on the split in the Shiv Sena wrought by Shinde and the recent speculation that he and his defecting MLAs could be disqualified was discussed, but the exact details are unknown. After his function, when Shah reached the airport for his flight back to Delhi, Shinde and Fadnavis were again present and held discussions once more.
Shah shared his view of Mann Ki Baat on Twitter, saying that Modi’s words to achievers had inspired the young generation, “ventured into the nooks and corners of the nation” and built bridges between the people and the government. “By platforming dialogues on different regions, languages and dialects, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has strengthened India’s social democracy,” he tweeted.
CM Shinde also shared some fulsome praise in a tweet. “Through this program, many problems in the country and their solutions, initiatives started with people’s participation, and work done by extraordinary personalities were mentioned. The activities that Prime Minister Modi ji called upon people to carry out turned into a people’s movement… He gave due place to each person for their work in the programme. Because of the honourable mention of these people in the program, their work became known to other people,” he said.
The BJP’s Mumbai Yuva Morcha went all out to publicise the occasion. Special arrangements were made for the broadcast at the women’s jail in Mumbai, and for dabbawallahs and lawyers. Women, including house helps, self-help groups, small entrepreneurs, cleanliness workers, anganwadi workers, those from the Muslim community, autorickshaw drivers and first-time voters were specially invited. The party’s other organisations distributed tea at 50 stalls in the city, while sheerkorma (a sweet porridge) was distributed at major dargahs, madrasas and Urdu schools.
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