Restless crowd leaves during Trump, Modi speeches

Barely five minutes into US President’s Donald Trump’s speech, the restless crowd at the Motera cricket stadium started to vacate their seats.

By the time Trump finished, almost half of the stadium was empty. Senior police officers estimated that at least 85,000 to 90,000 people had assembled at the stadium and half of them left before the event ended.

The stadium, that has a seating capacity of 1.10 lakh, was packed by the time Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached there at 1 pm after visiting Sabarmati Ashram through the 22-km-long roadshow. The crowd had been sitting in the open, under the scorching sun, since 8 am.

Every time Trump spoke words like “Modi, India and Gujarat” the crowd acknowledged with loud cheer while as the speech progressed, the restless people started walking up towards the exit doors.

The exodus was soon spotted by policemen who took charge and tried to stop it. One of the reasons that upset the crowd was the stage was far from most of them and they could barely see the two leaders. Although two giant screen were installed in the stadium, it wasn’t appreciated by the people. For most of the crowd, who came from far away districts, was made to sit far from the stage.

At the ground in the stadium, two types of seating arrangements had been done— platinum and gold. The platinum row was reserved for Union minister Amit Shah, Board of Control for Cricket of India president Saurav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and many other important leaders.

“We were barely able to understand what he was speaking and it was so hot in the stadium. We are a group of 15 people who came from Himmatnagar taluka of Sabarkantha district. We were only offered water and buttermilk and that too only once. We would have waited for Modi but the sun was too harsh,” said Manhar Patel while he was leading his group outside the stadium.

Besides the harsh weather, the sound system of the stadium also angered many of the visitors. “We were not able to hear clearly what exactly Modiji was speaking. He was speaking in Hindi. I hardly understood anything he said,” said Paresh Bhagabhi Raval who came from Kheda district.

“I couldn’t understand a thing these two leaders said. I came here because I was brought here free of cost and was given a chance to see the stadium. I don’t think I will ever be able to see it so closely. It was a nice experience for me,” said Ajit Patel who came from Kheda district.