PM Modi greets Eknath Shinde after he takes oath as deputy CM as CM Devendra Fadnavis, second deputy CM Ajit Pawar and governor C P Radhakrishnan look on MUMBAI: Americans are world champions at this – glamming up ‘sarkari’ events, including, or especially, inauguration. We call it swearing-in here. And that’s usually a staid affair. Looking at beaming netas and hearing the oath of office repeated dozens of times aren’t exactly riveting stuff. Even when mantris of a new Big G (aka GOI) are sworn in, and even though big names can be spotted, it doesn’t quite register on the glam Richter scale.True, the odd state government swearing-in has had small showbiz or socialite presence. The Bachchans were once spotted in Lucknow. But those were still very much sarkari events. All that changed in Mumbai. You have to swear on whatever it is you swear on, you haven’t seen a swearing-in like this in India. Even before starting work, ‘Fadnavis sarkar’ has already set the bar high. You name them, they were there. Mukesh? Yup. Beta and bahu, Anant and Radhika? Ditto. Kumar and daughter Ananya? Sure. Noel Tata? You can Trust him. Deepak Parekh? A man for all seasons. Plus, several other Mumbai Inc hotshots. Bollywood? SRK, Salman, Madhuri, Ranbir and Ranveer, Sanju…and more. Sachin Tendulkar was present. What hiked the glam quotient was not just A+ listers – but that they were all schmoozing- …handshakes, smiles and a few bro hugs. When you get stars from biz, showbusiness and sports to mingle and they seem to have a good time, that’s when an event stops being uninteresting for the uninvited. We like to watch the rich and famous rub shoulders. American politicians always knew this. Mumbai showed our politicians are now catching on. Why, though? Why was the swearing-in so glam-heavy? So much so it moved out of Raj Bhawan to the iconic Azad Maidan. And TV cameras were conflicted whether to focus on the governor, who swears in mantris and is rarely centrestage, or swing back to front rows of audience. For an answer, look at numbers. So, BJP wanted to send a message. The who’s who of Mumbai society was the glam part of it. The other part was rajneeti — you would have never seen a state-level swearing-in with so many Union cabinet heavyweights — Shah, Rajnath, Gadkari, Shivraj, Nirmala, Piyush, Scindia — and so many CMs in attendance. NDA CMs from Goa and Gujarat to Assam, and UP and Uttarakhand to Odisha and Andhra were there. The political signal was loud and clear. But it was the glam glow that stole the show.
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