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No full stops in Mulayam home: The Indian Express
Lucknow, Nov 27: All in little Saifai, home to 30,000, agree that Mulayam Singh Yadav put it on the map. And this December, Saifai will have more reason to thank the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister: for 10 days, it will be a world transformed, hosting bigwigs, celebrities, screening the latest in laser technology and stuff that only dreams are made of.
Lucknow, Nov 27: All in little Saifai, home to 30,000, agree that Mulayam Singh Yadav put it on the map. And this December, Saifai will have more reason to thank the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister: for 10 days, it will be a world transformed, hosting bigwigs, celebrities, screening the latest in laser technology and stuff that only dreams are made of.
This year’s Saifai Mahotsav at Mulayam’s birthplace, some 20 km from Etawah, will be different. Enough of low-key affairs in the last seven years (the first Mahotsav was held in 1995). And you can make it out from the way the state is working overtime, ministers and babus in Lucknow frantically scanning every detail of a 15-page document on the festival marked ‘‘most urgent/important.’’
There’s not much time left: the show begins December 17. And President A P J Abdul Kalam has agreed to be there for the ‘‘mega event’’ on December 24. Ditto for Kumarmangalam Birla, Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej, M S Banga and close friend Amitabh Bachchan who has a string of schools named after him and his father. Another list of 15 personalities has been drawn up, among them Jagjit Singh, Birju Maharaj, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Amjad Ali, Hema Malini and Johnny Lever.
The preface to the Saifai Mahotsav document, sent to ministers and bureaucrats on behalf of the Samajwadi Party’s Sports Cell, reads: ‘‘After deep discussion with family members of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior officers in Lucknow, we are sending herewith a set of plans for your immediate action.’’
Sports cell president Mohammed Seraj Ansari told that ‘‘the SP is the only political outfit in the country which has formed a sports cell. Our CM has deep interest in sports and its promotion which explains why he formed the cell in 1999.’’ An hour-long documentary on the life of Mulayam with interviews of people associated with him since the time he started his political career can be viewed on mega screens using laser technology on every day of the festival.
On December 24, when the President reaches Saifai, IAF choppers will shower rose petals while aircraft paint the Tricolour in the skies: all to ‘‘inculcate a feeling of nationhood’’ on the ground.
Huge cut-outs of inspiration Ram Manohar Lohia will rub shoulders with those of Mulayam, brother Shiv Pal, son Akhilesh and friend Amar Singh across Etawah. Festival hoardings, projecting Mulayam as a ‘‘pillar of national unity’’, will also pop up in Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and Fatehpur Sikri. Ten state departments, including Agriculture, Health, Education, have been told to set up stalls at the venue of the Mahotsav and ministers in charge instructed to ensure zero-laxity. So little Safai will look big, at least for 10 days next month.
There’s not much time left: the show begins December 17. And President A P J Abdul Kalam has agreed to be there for the ‘‘mega event’’ on December 24. Ditto for Kumarmangalam Birla, Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej, M S Banga and close friend Amitabh Bachchan who has a string of schools named after him and his father. Another list of 15 personalities has been drawn up, among them Jagjit Singh, Birju Maharaj, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Amjad Ali, Hema Malini and Johnny Lever.
The preface to the Saifai Mahotsav document, sent to ministers and bureaucrats on behalf of the Samajwadi Party’s Sports Cell, reads: ‘‘After deep discussion with family members of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior officers in Lucknow, we are sending herewith a set of plans for your immediate action.’’
Sports cell president Mohammed Seraj Ansari told that ‘‘the SP is the only political outfit in the country which has formed a sports cell. Our CM has deep interest in sports and its promotion which explains why he formed the cell in 1999.’’ An hour-long documentary on the life of Mulayam with interviews of people associated with him since the time he started his political career can be viewed on mega screens using laser technology on every day of the festival.
On December 24, when the President reaches Saifai, IAF choppers will shower rose petals while aircraft paint the Tricolour in the skies: all to ‘‘inculcate a feeling of nationhood’’ on the ground.
Huge cut-outs of inspiration Ram Manohar Lohia will rub shoulders with those of Mulayam, brother Shiv Pal, son Akhilesh and friend Amar Singh across Etawah. Festival hoardings, projecting Mulayam as a ‘‘pillar of national unity’’, will also pop up in Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and Fatehpur Sikri. Ten state departments, including Agriculture, Health, Education, have been told to set up stalls at the venue of the Mahotsav and ministers in charge instructed to ensure zero-laxity. So little Safai will look big, at least for 10 days next month.