It was expected to be the “mother of all rallies” and the “largest ever in the world” but Shiromani Akali Dal’s Maha Vikas Rally today turned out to be a classic case of being ‘big, but not big enough’.
Though Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal proclaimed from the stage that 6-8 lakh people were present at the rally, independent observers felt that the figure was much less.
When Sukhbir arrived on the dais at 11.45 am, a majority of the chairs in the ‘pandal’ spread over 250 acres of agricultural land, were lying vacant and remained so till the culmination of the rally.
Much to the embarrassment of the party, people started leaving the venue when Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the last speaker, got up to address the gathering at around 3 pm.
