Hoonkar Rally: No sleazy song, lewd dance for BJP workers

PATNA: The state BJP headquarters has banned the playing of sleazy numbers from musical albums and dance performances by nautch girls, bar girls and "laundas (male dancers performing raunchy dance on songs of sleaze)", during the night stay on October 26 as entertainment for the party's cadres and sympathizers who would come to Patna for participation in the Hoonkar Rally to be held here at Gandhi Maidan on October 27.
"The BJP volunteers and others looking after the participants have been asked to ensure that song and dance performances are held only of patriotic songs and bhajans for the sake of entertainment," state BJP chief Mangal Pandey said. "Local singers and dancers in Hindi and regional languages would accompany the batches of people coming to Patna for the rally," he added.
The BJP workers and supporters would start arriving in the state capital from the evening of October 26, as the party has booked 11 special trains and 3,500 buses to ferry people, leader of opposition in the state assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said. They would have their night stay on the campus of official residences of the 92 BJP MLAs or as arranged by the MLAs, 12 MPs and party's state unit. A lodging space of 2.5 lakh square feet, backed by 150 makeshift toilets and 100 bathrooms, would be prepared at Gandhi Maidan. The buses would stop at the selected 11 points, Yadav added.
According to him, reception counters would be opened at every bus terminus. "The volunteers manning these counters would guide disciplined movement of the people for the rally, that Patnaites have not seen before," Yadav said.
In fact, the party has already defined the "dos and don'ts" for the people. The "don'ts" include no playing of songs of sleaze, no lewd dances and no consumption of liquor, not even on the buses. The "dos" include disciplined march to the venue. "Despite their huge numbers, we will take care that Patna does not become hostage to the crowd," Yadav said.
He said the excitement among the BJP rank and file is such that the party's Jamui district president Prakash Bhagat would send 1 lakh "datuns (twigs used to brush teeth)" at his own cost, while traders based in Patna City would finance and help in the preparation of 1 lakh packets of "chura (flattened rice)" and jaggery for distribution among the rally participants. The traders of Patna, under the aegis of Nagrik Manch, have also volunteered to make food packets.
6 Hoonkar raths in Patna
State BJP chief Mangal Pandey and leader of opposition in the state assembly Nand Kishore Yadav on Friday flagged off six Hoonkar raths. They will go around the state capital for publicity and to exhort Patnaites to participate in the rally.