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This article was first published 10 years ago

'Yeh selection hai sher ka!'

May 17, 2014 19:19 IST

Image: Narendra Modi hails crowds outside the BJP HQ in New Delhi.
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com

Chants of "Modi, Modi" are heard as he makes his way through the jostling crowd, showered by rose petals. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com captures the mood at 11, Ashoka Road.

Narendra Modi made a typically dramatic entry into New Delhi hours after he won a massive mandate.

Thousands lined up on the streets to cheer the prime minister-in-waiting as he headed to 11, Ashoka Road.

At the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters NaMo humbly thanked karyakarta s (party workers) for the triumph. Inside, it rained rose petals.

Kindly ...

'Yeh selection hain sher ka!'

Image: A band welcomes Narendra Modi as he arrives at the BJP HQ.
Photographs: A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com

NaMo is welcomed with a warm hug from BJP President Rajnath Singh and soon he is in business -- attending a BJP Parliamentary Board meeting.

After the meeting comes the presser, a display of unity for the BJP. Sharing the stage with Modi are Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu (they adore him) and L K Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj (Not huge Modi fans).

Newly elected BJP members of the Lok Sabha will meet on Tuesday, May 20, where they will elect their leader (no surprises there) and take a call on Modi's oath-taking ceremony (will it be at the Ashoka Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan or in some stadium or maybe the Ramlila Maidan?).

Modi thanks the national media for the election coverage and promises journalists he will interact regularly with them (that would be a big surprise if it happens).

Kindly ...

'Yeh selection hain sher ka!'

Image: Modi's vehicle is showered with flowers.
Photographs: A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com

While the BJP Parliamentary Board meets for about an hour, the celebrations continue outside the party HQ. Enough firecrackers are burst to thrill the folks in Sivakasi. There is thumping music and frenzied dancing.

Inside the BJP office is a poster that reads: Delhi ka nahin, yeh election hain desh ka, billi ka nahin yeh selection hain sher ka (It is not a Delhi election, but India's election; it's a the not the selection of a cat, but a lion).

The open air disco in the capital's exhausting heat goes on long after their Lion King flies off to Varanasi for the Ganga aarti.