Unlike farmers, BJP bike rally makes no allowances for Mumbaikars

The grand show of strength by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Mumbai as party president Amit Shah prepares to kickstart the party’s 2019 poll campaign has come under scathing criticism for throwing normal life out of gear in the city.

The rally coincides with BJP's 38th foundation day. Besides Shah, union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Raosaheb Danve-Patil and other top party functionaries are participating in the rally.

On social media, comparisons are being drawn between the bike rally organised by BJP to welcome party chief Amit Shah on Thursday and protesting farmers who marched silently through the night in Mumbai last month to avoid anticipated traffic jams, which could cause inconvenience to students taking final exams and the general public.

The bike rally severely hit vehicular traffic on the Western Express Highway's south-bound arm for over five hours on Thursday. “Traffic snarls were reported on the Western Express Highway (WEH), between Dindoshi and Vakola, on Thursday as BJP’s Yuva Morcha took out a bike rally to welcome party president Amit Shah. The rally was taken out from the domestic terminal 1B to the Bandra-Kurla Complex. As many as 25,000 local BJP workers participated in the 3 km-long rally, among them 10,000 bikers and several car drivers,” The Indian Express reported, enumerating the problems confronted by daily commuters.

A Twitter user noted that the Mumbai Police’s traffic advisory asked students appearing for examinations and commuters to make adjustments for the BJP rally, by planning their travel through the city in advance. Many Mumbaikars, including actor Amitabh Bachchan, also took to Twitter to express their frustration.