Tens of thousands gathered here Thursday to join a roadshow that will culminate in BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha election.
The crowd massed outside the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) where Modi is scheduled to garland a statue of its founder, Madan Mohan Malaviya, at the start of the show of strength.
His supporters kept raising slogans praising Modi.
"Modiji is our future, and the entire BHU is with him," said an undergraduate student of the university wearing a Modi mask -- like many others.
Most people in the overwhelmingly male gathering wore identical saffron caps.
Modi's main opponents here are AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who filed his nomination Wednesday, and Ajay Rai of the Congress.