Hundreds of Empty Chairs While Modi Addresses Rally in Bhubaneswar

Hundreds of chairs at the venue lay vacant while PM Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Bhubaneswar’s Baramunda ground on 16 April.

On his way to the venue, Modi had held a roadshow in the city. While he was speaking at the rally though, hundreds of people began streaming out of the ground and heading back home.

Towards the latter parts of Modi’s speech, the crowd had thinned so much that a majority of the chairs were empty. Not just at the back, there were plenty of empty chairs up front too.

Sign of Worry for the BJP?

In 2014, the BJP had won one out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and 10 out of the 147 Assembly seats.

Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has been in power in Odisha for the last 19 years, had swept both the polls, winning 20 Lok Sabha seats and 117 Assembly seats.

BJP is hoping to improve its tally in Odisha in 2019, hoping that 19 years of Navin Patnaik’s chief ministership will yield some strong anti-incumbency. But the lukewarm response at Modi’s rally in Bhubaneswar should be a sign of worry for the saffron party’s prospects in the eastern state.

Modi Raises Armed Forces in Campaign Speech, Again

The Election Commission has issued an advisory to political parties asking them to desist “from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces” as part of their election campaigning. Despite the EC advisory, PM Modi brought up the issue during his campaign speech in Bhubaneswar.

Addressing the crowd, Modi asked, “Should India stay in fear of terrorists? Should our armed forces have a free hand or not?”

Earlier, in Maharashtra’s Latur district, Modi had remarked on 9 April, “I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan? Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama?”