With only a few days remaining for Diwali, firecrackers stalls across India are doing brisk business.
In Rajkot, Gujarat, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) prime which is highly popular this season.
The boxes of firecrackers with Modi's photograph are the ones that are being sold the most and are being popularly called as "Modi Brand".
Even though Chinese fireworks remain popular in the market, the firecrackers manufactured in the Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, are equally in demand.
"During the time of Diwali there is a high demand for crackers. We have Chinese items as well as the ones with actors' photos on it. Right now, "Modi Brand" is the most popular and is explosive in Rajkot," said firecracker merchant Parag Dushrejia.
With Narendra Modi being a hit, the customers are expecting the "Modi Brand" firecrackers to be different and explosive.
"This time there is a lot of variety in firecrackers as they have photos of actors like Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Shah Rukh Khan but when I saw one with Narendra Modi's picture, I immediately bought it. Lately, Modi has been an explosive so the firecrackers also could be explosive like him, that's why I immediately bought it," said a customer in Rajkot, Dharmendra Makwana.
The Modi mania is such that a box of firecrackers is being sold at 16 U.S. dollars.
Rajkot has more than 5000 retail showrooms of firecrackers, with business worth more than 8 million U.S. dollars where as in Saurashtra region in western Gujarat, of which Rajkot is a part, the business is estimated to be around more than 20 million dollars.
