It is 10am on a pleasant Sunday at Guhagar, a small town in Maha-rashtra’s Ratnagiri district. More than 500 people sit on red, plastic chairs in an open-air auditorium, waiting to welcome Aditya Thackeray. Saffron flags and posters showing the 29-year-old president of the Shiv Sena’s youth wing line the pathway from the road to the auditorium. Outside the gate, a band of drummers try out their beats even as loudspeakers blare the Sena’s theme music.
Women have turned out in droves, dressed in their finery. Men sport bandanas and scarves to show their allegiance to the Sena. Apart from legislators, councillors, grampramukhs and party workers, there are farmers, students and villagers who have come from far to see Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s grandson up close.
Two hours later, Aditya finally arrives. As he steps off an air-conditioned bus, his lean frame is lost in a swell of supporters in white kurta-pyjamas.
The Guhagar event flags off the second day in the fourth leg of Aditya’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra, which he describes as a thanksgiving journey to meet those who voted the Shiv Sena to power, both in the state and at the Centre. The first three phases of the yatra covered northern Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada. This phase will cover five districts in the Konkan division in four days.
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