When Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to Mumbai to preside over the oath taking ceremony of the first ever BJP government in Maharashtra on Friday, he will leave a whole lot of local chai-wallahs and other small businessmen disappointed.

The city’s municipal corporation has ordered the local tea, sandwich and dosa sellers to keep their businesses shut tomorrow, ostensibly for “security purposes”, as top politicians and dignitaries arrive at Wankhede Stadium to witness the ceremony.

“Tomorrow we have been asked to keep our businesses shut, else they will confiscate the items,” said a chai-wallah in the city’s swanky Nariman Point area.

And this, despite the Prime Minister himself having been a chai-wallah, he points out. Shutting down for even a single day would result in a loss of his daily earning of about ₹800, he adds.

The big shops and establishments in the area, however, have been issued no such diktat by the corporation.

Despite most of the tea-sellers being licensed, this drill happens every time a big dignitary is in town. “What trouble are we going to cause to the Prime Minister?” he asks. “But who will listen to us?”

While Friday might be zero-earnings day for these small entrepreneurs, most appear to be doing somewhat brisk business on the days leading up to the swearing in. A large posse of overworked, thirsty and hungry policemen and party workers constitute a lucrative clientele.

At Wankhede, there is frenetic activity, with men trooping in and out of the hallowed cricket ground with chairs, iron-beams and other party paraphernalia as the arena is decked up for the ceremony. Large posters of party leaders AB Vajpayee and Gopinath Munde are kept at the boundary ropes that are more used to seeing spanking boundary shots by celebrated batsmen.

But should the famed Wankhede Stadium be used in such a manner? The official stance of the Mumbai Cricket Association is that everybody is “co-operating whole-heartedly” with the incoming government.

In fact, PV Shetty, Joint Secretary, Mumbai Cricket Association countered: “What is the harm in this? We go to the government for so many permissions, so what is wrong if they use this stadium?”

There are no international matches scheduled in the stadium until the end of the world-cup next year, he says. He also does not believe that allowing the stadium for such functions will set a bad precedent.

“Where is the question of precedent? Such events do not take place every week, like a marriage ceremony,” Shetty adds.

Besides, according to MCA officials, the party has promised that they will pay for the damages, if any, during or after the event. The pitch area has been cordoned off and there is no seating arrangement or any erection on or around the pitch.

The last mega event that Wankhede witnessed was when Sachin Tendulkar bid a tearful adieu to cricket. But on Friday night, when the few thousand dignitaries and VVIPs leave the field, the hallowed stands of the great stadium would have witnessed an event of a very different kind.

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