Red carpet welcome awaits in Kashi
VARANASI: Varanasi, the cultural capital of India, and its ghats have been decked up to welcome French President Emmaunel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
A host of activities have been planned at the ghats to welcome the two leaders as they go on a boat ride in the Ganga from Asi to Dashashwamedh ghat.
Macron and Modi will be welcomed at Asi ghat with the chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’. A group of 50 people will play ‘damru’ (pellet drum) amids the chants of Vedic mantras at the ghat.
Couplets of the Ramcharitmanas will be recited and Ramlila will be staged at Tulsi Ghat. Ram rajyabhishek (anointment of Lord Ram) will be performed by traditional artistes under the guidance of chief priest of Sankatmochan Temple Prof Vishwambhar Nath Mishra.
A 50-feet tall painting cut out of Modi and Macron by local artists has also been put up at Tulsi ghat. Coordinator of the events at Tulsi ghat Prof Vijay Nath Mishra said, “Preparations for special Ramlila performance and live ‘dangal’ have been completed. We are eager to welcome the guests.”
A group of Buddhist monks will also offer prayers at Prabhu ghat where Macron will get the glimpses of Buddhist way of performing prayers.
Sadhus will give discourses at Chet Singh Ghat while a group of seers will chant mantras at Niranjan ghat.
The Indian Tricolour and the national flag of France will be put up to showcase Indo-French ties.
Passing by Kedar ghat, the two leaders will get a glimpse of Barsana in Banaras where a group of 25 artistes from Mathura will perform Mayur dance.
Geetanjali Sharma, who will lead the troupe, said: “I am quite thrilled as this will be a special performance. We have made adequate preparations for our performance.”
At Mansarovar ghat, a group of Kabir panthis will play ‘ektara’ (a single-stringed instrument) and recite Kabir’s couplets. Artistes of Banaras gharana will give a Kathak presentation. A group of 50 artistes of Banaras gharana at Darbhanga ghat will give a musical presentation. After the cultural feast, Modi and Macron will reach Dashashwamedh ghat where they will get off the boat at floating jetty. They will walk to their cavalcade that will proceed to hotel for lunch.Big hoardings with pictures of Modi and Macron have been put up along the road leading to the hotel.
Holding the flags of the two countries, the residents of Varanasi will welcome the leaders.
Before participating in the programmes at Varanasi, the leaders will visit Dadar Kala village in Mirzapur where Macron will inaugurate a solar power plant set up by French company Eingie Solar. Project manager of the company Tushar Malik said the solar power plant would generate 75 megawatt alternating current (AC) and 101 megawatt direct current (DC).
After the inaugural ceremony, they will fly back to Varanasi to visit Deendayal Upadhyay trade facilitation centre (TFC) where Macron will see weaving of sarees and stole on handloom and powerloom.
Divisional commissioner Nitin Ramesh Gokarn said, “All preparations are in place to welcome PM Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. I appeal to the people to give a grand welcome to the two dignitaries following the tradition of ‘Atithi devo bhav’.”
He appealed to the people not to dump waste on streets and inform the police immediately on Dial 100 if they notice any unclaimed object at public places. A senior police official said over 12,000 security personnel had been deployed to ensure foolproof security.
Meanwhile, the PM will hand over keys of houses to five beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) during a programme at DLW.