A festive mood prevailed at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, the venue for the swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the second consecutive term on Friday.
All roads leading to the stadium were decked up with colourful lights, posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Adityanath and other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
According to police officials, BJP supporters started reaching the venue as early as 9 am while the gates of the stadium were opened at 11 am, almost five hours before the ceremony.
Supporters donning saffron-coloured caps and gamchas (towel) with the BJP's election symbol lotus embossed on them raised slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" and hailed Modi and Adityanath.
Hare Ram Singh, a resident of Telibagh area in Lucknow, was dressed in a saffron-coloured shirt with the pictures of Modi and Adityanath.
"I am not a party member but I support the ideology of Yogi and Narendra Modi. I have come to see them," he said.
Located in the southern part of the city, the stadium is named after former Prime Minster and stalwart BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and is flanked by Shaheed Path on the west and Sultanpur road on the north.
While the Shaheed path was closed, traffic was heavy on the Sultanpur road.
Those who reached after mid-day had to walk over one km to enter the venue because of the massive traffic snarls outside.
As both the main and service roads outside the stadium were lined with parked vehicles, many people were forced to park their vehicle on the Shaheed Path and nearby Sultanpur road and walk to the stadium.
"I have a vehicle parking pass but there is no way I can take my vehicle close to the stadium because of traffic congestion. So, I will park my vehicle here and reach the stadium on foot," said Sumit Verma, a party worker from Barabanki, who parked his car on Shahheed Path and walked to the venue some 700 metres away.
Three small stages were set up outside the stadium on which groups of dancers performed traditional dances.
The place outside the gates were also occupied by vendors selling BJP caps, national flags, saffron-coloured gamchas and badges with picture of Modi, Adityanath and the lotus flower.
There were huge crowds at kiosks selling miniature bulldozers.
The bulldozer has become a symbol of the strict law and order imposed in the state by Yogi Adityanath as chief minister during his first term.
"Yogi baba is bulldozer baba. He will bulldoze criminals in the state or anyone who dares to harm the Hindus," said Shiv Shakti Singh, a 24-year-old BJP supporter from Gonda district.
Inside the stadium, people occupied the stands on the east and west while seating arrangements were also made on the ground. In the middle of the ground, a giant lotus in saffron colour was drawn.
According to police officials over 60,000 people attended the event.
A stage was also erected on the left of the main stage which was occupied by singers and performers.
Bhojpuri singer and BJP member Dinesh Lal Yadav along with others sang song praising the party and attracted loud applause from the crowd which kept raising sporadic slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Jai Shri Ram".
The focus shifted towards the main stage at around 3:30 pm when Adityanath accompanied by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached the venue.
The main stage had two sections -- the newly-elected MLAs who were to take oath occupied the chairs on the left while senior leaders of the state and chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states sat on the right.
Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel sat in the centre and was later joined by Modi and Adityanath.
Huge cutouts of Modi, Yogi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and J P Nadda were put up on either sides of the main stage.
Three large screens were placed on the east and west side of the stands while two more were installed behind the main stage.
The screens offered the crowds inside the stadium a closer look of the swearing-in ceremony.
