Bike rally to welcome party president Amit Shah blocks Western Express Highway

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s bike rally to welcome party president Amit Shah brought the city to a standstill on Thursday night and led to traffic jams along the Western Express Highway.

Mumbaikars vented their anger on social media as the jam prevented them from reaching home on time. Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the rally blocked traffic at Centaur Hotel junction and this led to a jam all the way up to Aarey Colony.

Mr. Kumar said, “We had deployed more than 100 traffic police personnel at the junction and on the carriageway to regulate traffic. Journey time was prolonged by 30 to 40 minutes for office-goers as the rally was held during the rush hour.”

Actor Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, “T 2765 - A 30 min drive .. takes 5 hours .. ! thats the Phantom movie camera moving at 500 frames per second .. Film City to JVPD Scheme, Juhu .. normal camera moves at 24 frames ..”

Another user, Vikram Ogale, tweeted, “The arrogance of Mumbai @BJP4India rally is appalling. Traffic stationary on the highway for 2+ hrs. @MumbaiPolice @BJP4India @AmitShah @narendramodi @Dev_Fadnavis You expect votes out of this? The farmers had tons of sense more than you.”

Khurshid Khan said, “BJP rally more then 3 or 4 thousands bike without helmets on highway our officers are there @MumbaiPolice but no fine to them and they have block the highway traffic jam past 3 hours.”

Sensing the anger, BJP ran a hashtag #MumbaiWelcomesAmitShah. “Leading up to the BJP foundation day celebrations, youths in the city gear up for the enthusiastic reception of BJP Party President @AmitShah ji in Maharashtra. #MumbaiWelcomesAmitShah,” Education Minister Vinod Tawde said.