By IANS
Lucknow : An estimated one million Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporters swarmed the Uttar Pradesh capital Tuesday to commemorate the first death anniversary of party founder Kanshi Ram, an event Chief Minister Mayawati is hoping will enter the record books as the biggest rally ever.
The launch of a dozen projects named after Kanshi Ram – with an allocation of nearly Rs.250 billion – will be the highlight of the mega event that has seen the city being coloured a virtual blue with buntings, hoardings and posters. Blue is the colour of the BSP party flag.
Normal life came to a standstill with educational institutions declaring a holiday and commercial establishments staying closed.
All roads seemed to converge at the new 50-acre rally venue, about 10 km from town, where Mayawati proposes to fly down in a helicopter from the governor’s house.
Party sources said Tuesday morning that one million people had already arrived and crowds were still pouring in.
Commuters were being greatly inconvenienced with the roads crammed with BSP workers. The area in and around the railway station was declared a traffic free zone for the day and passengers could be seen carrying their luggage on their heads.
While BSP has officially hired only six special trains to carry their workers, railway officials were apprehensive that many more would arrive.
As many as 11,000 cops and security personnel have been detailed to ensure that nothing goes wrong while as many as 10,000 buses and 4,000 trucks have been reportedly pressed into service.