Surprised? Atal Bridge has no photo of Atal Behari Vajpayee; Modi of course is there

By Rajiv Shah

I visited the much publicised Atal Bridge, opened in the memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the first time. It connects two sides of Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad. You can cross it walking. I knew of the bridge, around it so much of hype was created. I always thought it wasn't worth visiting, especially considering the fact that there was a ticket to take a stroll.

However, since I was accompanied by my NRI friends from New Jersey and they wanted to visit the flower show and thereafter the Atal Bridge, which is attached to it, I thought why not have first hand experience of the bridge, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 27, 2022.

Walking up the bridge, this was the biggest surprise I encountered: the Atal Bridge has no photo of the man after whom it has been named! Instead, a life size photo cutout of our honourable Prime Minister is on display. In the background one sees some illustrations of what all authorities think is "made in India". In foreground it's "Yah hai naya Bharat."

I wondered: why didn't they name it Modi bridge?

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Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

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