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Bombay unfurls giant banner for Vajpayee

Bombay has begun bracing itself to bid adieu to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in its inimitable style on Sunday when he returns to the capital after knee replacement surgery at the Breach Candy Hospital.

Citizens are hoisting a km-long giant banner bedecked messages of good wishes. The prime minister has always enjoyed a close association with Bombay, from where he was elected as the founding president of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the inaugural meet of the party in 1980.

The multilingual banner being hoisted along Bhulabhai Desai Road, where the hospital is located and stretching upto Haji Ali at Worli in central Bombay, bears a slogan hailing Vajpayee as a statesman, and bears parting kisses with signed messages from citizens wishing him long life, lasting joy and happiness.

Part of the banner was unfurled Friday afternoon by Union Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan. The entire banner will go up by Friday night, said MLA Manglprabhat Lodha.

The banner will also have pinned on it about 22000 get-well messages received from all parts of the country and abroad during his stay in the hospital.

The cheer slogans on the banner read: '' Bharat ka abhiman aap hain... Aap hamari shaan hain", "May good future always smile on you'', ''We love you Atalji-- Mumbaikars,'' '' Atalji ko Mumbai ki shubh kamnayen" and one lauding him for his modest and soft-spoken nature that has endeared him to millions in the country goes like this '' Mukhmandal par santosh sada hai/vani kitni komal hai.'' It also carries similar greetings in Marathi and Gujarati as well.

More than 100 enthusiastic children from the residential area around the hospital gathered Friday afternoon at the hospital premises soon after the news spread about the banner being placed for the public to sign and dot their messages.

Nothwithstanding the tight security ring in and around the hospital, a large number of people continue to visit and wait endlessly on the footpath along the hospital and around the gate every day to snatch a word or two from the visitors to hospital about the progress of the prime minister's health and also send flowers and get well messages through the BJP camp office.

Ever since doctors lifted the restriction on visitors, a stream of VVIPs, including Cabinet colleagues of Vajpayee have continued to call on him over the week. These included Mahajan, who was always by his bedside, right from the beginning.

Apart from the family members, others who called on the prime minister so far includes Union Home Minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Finance Minister Yeshwant Sinha, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and top party functionaries, governors and chief ministers of various states and Shiv Sena leaders.

The security regulations in the hospital are maintained in a meticulous order so that the movement of patients and their relatives remained unaffected.

Residents have already planned to shower rose petals on his motorcade when he drives out from the hospital and takes the road to the airport.

The prime minister, who has made satisfactory recovery after the knee surgery, on Friday, as part of the physiotherapy exercise, walked with the help of a walker. He will be able to walk without the walker ''very soon,'' hospital sources said.

UNI

The PM's surgery: The full coverage

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