Modi all the way at Ramlila Maidan (Sidelights)

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) From poets who sang his praises to the thousands of people who chanted his name, the BJP rally at the Ramlila Maidan to felicitate the three new chief ministers of Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana turned out to be a complete Narendra Modi show.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been calling Hindi poets to almost all of its rallies for long. While on previous occasions, the poets recited patriotic couplets to charge up the crowd, this time the focus was only on Modi.

The poems spoke about the prime minister's work done in the last seven months.

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Modi lauds Shah

The prime minister was all praises for Amit Shah, calling him the "most successful president of the party ever".

The prime minister credited Shah - who was Modi's close aide during the Lok Sabha elections which the BJP won by a thumping majority - for taking the party in the right direction.

He felicitated BJP's three new chief ministers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana - Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das and Manohar Lal Khattar, respectively - and praised Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh for the work he did ahead of the election in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Modi water bottles

The labels on mineral water bottles distributed to the media and the crowd were replaced with stickers of Modi.

Bearing his photo, a white coloured lotus - the party's symbol - and a message "Chalo chale Modi ke saath" (Let's walk together with Modi), the 500 ml bottles with blue and green caps was a clever attempt by the party to advertise Modi in poll-bound Delhi.

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The importance of social media

A small white tent with around half a dozen IT professionals was erected at one corner of the ground from where photos of the rally and important quotes were being posted on Facebook and Twitter swiftly.

According to one of the team members, the idea was to provide instant updates to those who follow the party on social networking sites.

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A sea of saffron and green caps and scarves

It was a sea of saffron and green caps, scarves and T-shirts as tens of thousands of people of all ages gathered at the Ramlila Maidan to listen to Modi.

Almost every person in the crowd either wore a cap, hat, scarf or T-shirt with the party's official colours on it.

Many held BJP flags made of plastic, paper and cloth, adding to the colourful sight.

Meanwhile, bus stands, sidewalls of flyovers, and trees leading to and around the venue had posters of the rally along with huge party flags.