From Sardar Patel Stadium to Narendra Modi Stadium, the renaming process and transition was a fast one. It was almost like the way the Indian bowlers rocked the Englishmen on the opening day of the third Pink Ball Test in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Even before the Test match had begun, there was great excitement in the air at the Sardar Patel Sports Enclave, which houses the new cricket stadium. The Shilanyas for the new sports infrastructure was done with Vedic pundits chanting PrithviSuktam and other important mantras.
For those who attach importance to auspicious things being done the right way, the pooja set the tone for the day’s proceedings where Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with great passion abut developing multiple infrastructure in his own city of Ahmedabad. He won his Lok Sabha seat here in the 2019 General Elections.
It was a huge day for Indian sport where President of India Ram Nath Kovind, first lady Savita Kovind, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and officials from the Gujarat state government were present. There was a huge sprinkling of VIPs, former athletes, hockey legend Dhanraj PIllay and other top names of the city.
All roads lead to Motera with huge security bandobast and none had imagined the inauguration of the new stadium would be such a big event. Yes, the mega structure looks beautiful, the fans inside were happy and the cricket was sublime. When the cricket stadium was renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the audience was zapped.
Social media is spewing venom on why the stadium has been renamed. One can simply ignore it as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah dreamt and realised a dream come true for the Motera. After all, they were the visionaries a few years ago in the Gujarat Cricket Association who wanted the Motera to look bigger and better than the MCG.
Home Minister Amit Shah, whose oratory skills are captivating, spoke at length on how he wants Ahmedabad to become a world class sports city. His speech was filled with emotion and nuanced with nuggets where he recalled how he and Modi had worked together for decades. Indeed, the renaming of the cricket stadium was a googly bowled to perfection.
Critics will cry over anything and everything which the NDA government does. But then, this is not the first time either. India has several stadia named after Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The nation’s biggest sports award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna has been named after a man who never played sport. The NDA government has not changed these names, as yet.
Yes, the renaming was a top secret. Before this, the Feroze Shah Kotla in New Delhi, renamed the cricket arena after former Union Minister Arun Jaitley Stadium. That, too, was criticised by many.
The takeaway from Wednesday is not the renaming of the stadium. The big plus is how around 50 more stadia are planned here and for every Olympic sports discipline, infra is being conceptualised. . Gujarat has shown the PPP (Private Public Partnership Model) can work. If bringing Ambanis and Adanis has worked for the cricket stadium, one hopes they come forward to support other venues as well.
Amit Shah said the hockey stadium will be renamed after legend Dhyan Chand. That is brilliant news for every hockey lover in this country. At a time when the Indian Olympic Association is struggling to find a host state for the National Games, soon, Gujarat may emerge a front-runner.
Lastly, it is not as if Sardar Patel’s name has been taken away from the complex totally. The 125-odd acre sports enclave still stands in his name and the Narenda Modi cricket stadium is just one part of it.
