BARDOLI, AUG 31: Bahut jaan hain tum logon mein, bahut jaan hain'' were his first words, delivered in typically filmi style to a crowd that had waited patiently for almost two hours under a scorching sun at the Sardar Patel ground in Bardoli, not to see a BJP campaigner, but a film personality.The words hit the bulls eye. What local party leaders could not do for two hours get the people to clap and cheer Shatrughan Sinha, BJP's star campaigner, did in just a moment. In fact, the local leaders had had a difficult time keeping the crowd, which was looking into the sky more often than paying attention to speeches being made before Sinha arrived, together.Exhorting the youth, who had arrived in large numbers for the public meeting, to take up campaigning, Sinha unleashed a flurry of dialogues which had the crowd clapping every minute. ``Sirf hungama karneki nahin meri koshish, is dharti ki Surat badalni hain hamein,'' etc, drew applause from the crowd, whose numbers and patience had begunto thin before Sinha's arrival.Taking a dig at politicians, irrespective of party, Sinha said in typical Bihari-ishtyle that a Bihari complained to him - ``Eh Babu, yeh politician chuna laga raha hain humko.'' He replied - ``Eh Babuva, tu to chuna lagva raha hain apne aap ko. Yeh kya tamasha hain bhai. Diwali, Holi, Navratri ki tarah yeh election bhi yearly tyohaar ban gaya hain,'' he complained.Turning to the favourite BJP topic of Sonia and her foreign origin, Shatrughan said that although he had nothing against her personally, she was still a novice in politics. Saying that she was like a bhabhi to him, he continued - ``Lekin woh to chhoti si bachchi hain, abhi bahut kachchi hain.'' He added that it was ridiculous to compare her to Vajpayee and project her as a prime ministerial candidate. He also poked fun at Bihar strongman Laloo Pradav Yadav. ``Hamare woh Bihari bhai naam se bhi lallu hain aur kaam meing bhi lallu hain,'' he said.A huge crowd had gathered at the venue to hear Sinha, who was scheduled to arrive at 12.30 pm. But when he did not turn up even after 2 pm, many were seen slowly walking off from the ground. Ganesh Surti, a youth, reflected the popular sentiment when he said ``I'm waiting here because its Shatrughan Sinha. If it was any other politician, I would have gone off.''Speakers, including Jayanti Kevat, Vice-President of the BJP turn to page 4
