Lok Sabha polls: New-look Varanasi greets Narendra Modi as he hits the road

Modi went to the famous Dashashwamedh Ghat to offer prayers and ended his roadshow with Ganga Aarti on the banks of the river

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pre-campaign rally in Varanasi proves two things: Development sells as a tool for electoral victory; and with an able team, you can actually deliver development even in cities with as decrepit an infrastructure as Varanasi, which was described by Mark Twain as “older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend”.

On Thursday, ahead of filing his nomination, the prime minister undertook a 6-km roadshow in Varanasi. Every chhajja (rooftop), every road, every market was crammed with people. In 2014, when he came to file his nomination, the crowd was estimated at 500,000. Today it was