Surat's grand welcome for PM Modi

Huge television screens, flags, flashy lights and a 10,000-bike cavalcade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s homecoming was nothing short of being spectacular.

The PM began his two-day visit to his home state of Gujarat in Surat with a 11-kilometre long roadshow.

Chants of ‘Modi, Modi’ could be heard through the entire stretch as Modi rode a SUV, standing and waving through its sun-roof at the frenzied crowds.

Modi arrived in Surat after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Executive in Odisha. This is his eighth visit in nine months to his home state, which is going to polls in November.

“He is visiting Surat for the first time after the BJP’s landslide victory in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. We are very excited to receive him,” state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The buildings along the road from airport to Circuit House were illuminated and decorated. Following the roadshow, Modi will meet BJP leaders at the Circuit House.

Modi has a packed schedule for Monday, including inauguration of a Rs 400-crore hospital in Surat and an ice-cream facility of Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers Union at Bajipura village.

Modi will then visit Silvassa in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli where also he will address a gathering apart from inaugurating new projects and distributing assistance to beneficiaries.