PM Modi's birthday: Cheetahs, 56-inch thali, 72-kg cake...

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases three of the eight cheetahs from Namibia into Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on Saturday, BJP-run governments, party leaders and workers will organise several events across the country to mark his 72nd birthday.

The party's Tamil Nadu unit has identified a Chennai hospital where it will give gold rings to all children born on the PM's birthday. The Vanzara Samaj in Gujarat will light 72,000 earthen lamps in the shape of Modi's face, plant 72 trees and collect 72 bottles of blood. The BJP will organise "unity in diversity" festivals, a blood donation drive, tree-planting and a cleanliness drive across the country from Saturday to October 2.

But if it is a race to pay obeisance to Modi's personality cult, former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel has shown feline swiftness. He has plans to cut a 72 kg cake on Saturday. On the PM's birthday eve, Goel put up a "wall of greetings" outside one of the gates of the national capital's Rajiv Chowk metro station in Connaught Place.

Also Read | Modi to release cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on Saturday morning

"People showered their love for Modiji by inscribing messages such as 'Modi sher nahin, babbar sher hai'," Goel said. Loosely translated, it means Modi is braver than a lion. On Thursday, Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu presented Jikhe Pulye, a type of shawl woven by tribal women and priests on ceremonial occasions and festivals, the CM's office said.

September 17 will also see the start of the auctioning of 1,200 items of memorabilia the PM has received. A model statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose made by sculptor Arun Yogiraj and sporting memorabilia of the Commonwealth Games medallists gifted to the PM will be auctioned.

The Maharashtra government will launch its 'Rashtraneta to Rashtrapita' initiative from September 17 to October 2 to address pending complaints and requests of citizens. Congress leader Sachin Sawant termed this "forcible link" demeaning the Mahatma's work. "Gandhiji's work and ideology was the opposite (of the rashtra neta)," Sawant tweeted.

Also Read | Cheetah reintroduction plan in India: Optimists, skeptics wait with bated breath

Apart from releasing the cheetahs, the PM will attend three more events addressing a cross-section of people, including a women's self-help groups conference in MP. Officials said he will also address the first-ever convocation ceremony of students from ITIs and launch the National Logistics Policy.

A Delhi restaurant has decided to celebrate the PM's birthday by serving a 56-inch thali with 56 dishes for 10 days, restaurant owner Suveett Kalra said. Ardor 2.1 restaurant, in Connaught Place, will offer a vegetarian thali for Rs 2,600. Kalra said his restaurant also plans to launch an 'Inflation/Recession Thali' soon. "Inflation has increased, and it is our request to PM Modi to reduce it," Kalra told PTI.

The birthday celebrations also led to some mirth from opposition leaders. When asked about Modi releasing cheetahs on his birthday, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the PM "moves faster" than the cheetah when evading issues like inflation, unemployment or China occupying India's territory.

Also Read | BJP to hold 'unity in diversity' festivals during fortnight-long campaign to mark PM Modi's birthday

At LG medical college in Ahmedabad, renamed Narendra Modi medical college, Telangana minister KT Rama Rao tweeted: "Already Sardar Patel stadium has been renamed as Narendra Modi stadium. If FM Nirmala ji has her way, RBI may soon be ordered to print new currency notes where Mahatma Gandhi Ji will be replaced by Modi ji."

On Saturday, party chief JP Nadda will inaugurate an exhibition at the BJP's national headquarters. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will "distribute equipment to divyangs" (disabled) in Hyderabad.

Several governors, chief ministers and Union ministers will attend the culmination of the Ministry of Earth Sciences' 75-day beach cleanup campaign on Saturday, with advertisements showing Modi picking garbage from a beach. Registrations for the 'Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav' have begun on the Aarogya Setu app and e-Raktkosh portal as part of a mega voluntary blood donation drive planned across the country from the PM's birthday to October 1, the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day.

The BJP has used the PM's birthday as an occasion to launch 'seva' and development initiatives since 2014. In 2021, over 2.5 crore Covid vaccine doses, a record, were administered across the country.