Rocked by Blasts in 2008, How Jaipur’s Old City Helped PM Modi Push Campaign Against Gehlot Govt – News18

In one of his biggest road shows, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent multiple messages in Jaipur on Tuesday as he spent little over an hour in a road show through the old city part of Jaipur which was rocked by serial bomb blasts in the year 2008.

Thousands poured on to the streets of the old city to catch a glimpse of the prime minister, in an indication of the BJP’s confidence in Rajasthan. The road show began at the famous Sanganeri Gate of the Old City near the spot where three bomb blasts had gone off in 2008 next to a Hanuman temple. The accused in the Jaipur serial bomb blasts were acquitted recently, which the BJP has made into a poll issue against the Ashok Gehlot government. This was the first-ever road show held by PM Narendra Modi in the city of Jaipur.

The road show touched three assembly constituencies of Hawa Mahal, Kishanpole and Adarsh Nagar which are all seats of sitting Congress MLAs and also have a significant Muslim population. The BJP has been trying to make inroads into these seats and the PM led the effort on Tuesday after holding two rallies in the state. BJP supporters at the road show talked about the “Muslim appeasement” policies of the Gehlot government, indicating how the contest in the seats of the Old City has become polarised.

PM Modi will do three more rallies on Wednesday and Thursday to conclude his campaign in the state. People at Modi’s road show spoke about his continuing popularity and women in large numbers had also turned up to have a glimpse of the PM. Modi on Monday had done a road show in Bikaner. Home Minister Amit Shah will also do two more road shows in Chittorgarh and Nathdwara on the last day of campaigning on November 23.

However, describing the prime minister’s road show as a “flop show”, chief minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that it had been curtailed from its original plan of nine kilometres to just four kilometres after BJP realised the mood of the people.