Vadodara : The sounds of hooting, clapping, whistling and sloganeering resonated in the air as Narendra Modi, all set to become India’s 14th prime minister, met with rockstar adulation here as he delivered his first speech following BJP’s impressive victory in the Lok Sabha poll.
As soon as Modi, who is also the chief minister of the state, made an appearance on the dais, the massive crowd began chanting ‘Modi, Modi’ and continued for at least a couple of minutes before Modi urged them to settle down with folded hands.
All through his speech that lasted for over half an hour, Modi thanked the voters, talked about the hard work that his party workers had put in, discussed plans to bring about change at the national level and in his trademark style, joked and bantered with the audience much to their amusement.
Ten minutes into his speech, Modi turned to his right and asked some of the people, standing in the corner to move a bit so that those standing behind them could see him speaking.
“Those who are standing there in the corner move a bit so that the other can see me properly,” he said as the crowd cheered loudly.
“Wherever I am, I know what bothers you,” he added as the cheers turned into applause and whistling followed again by a round of slogans praising Modi.
On at least a dozen occasions all through his address, Modi was interrupted by the charged crowd. And despite his repeated requests even with folded hands to keep calm and allow him to continue, the crowd rarely paid heed.
Finally, at one point Modi asked the crowd with a smile on his face: “Shall I speak, do I have your permission?”
As the cheering supporters settled down, Modi thanked them and carried on, only to be interrupted again a few minutes later.
But obviously Modi wasn’t complaining as the repeated interruptions adulating him only brought a smile on his face.
The BJP is poised to win all the 26 seats from Gujarat with Modi returning with the highest ever parliament victory margin of over 570,000 votes.