allIf you are a Twitter addict who is hooked on to what's trending every now and then, we are sure you must have noticed one trend- #NarendraModiStadium. Today (Feb 24), the world's largest stadium was inaugurated in Motera, Ahmedabad. But that's not what caused the stir. It was the new name of the stadium that sent social media in a tizzy. Named after India's Prime Minister, the stadium is called the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The stadium's new name was announced in an inauguration ceremony that was attended by President Ram Nath Kovind, Home Minister Amit Shah, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah among others.
The stadium, which was officially named Sardar Patel Stadium, will now have a sports complex called Sardar Patel sports complex. The stadium, popularly known as the Motera Stadium, which was recently re-opened after extensive renovation work which increased seating capacity to a record 1,10,000, hosts a pink-ball Test match on Wednesday with India taking on England in a day-night match.
The name of the stadium has divided Indians on Twitter in two groups- one that agrees with the name and the other which finds it odd. When some people criticised the idea of ministers naming public places after themselves, others countered it by saying that Indira Gandhi also awarded the Bharat Ratna award to herself.
Now, the stadium is continuing to stay viral on Twitter owing to the names of bowling ends. When the scores were displayed on TV, India saw that the two ends where cricketers Ishant Sharma and Jaspreet Bumrah were standing are named as the Reliance end and the Adani end respectively.
In the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been repeatedly accused of favouring the two corporate giants. Not to forget opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's "Hum Do. Humaare Do." jibe he made at PM Modi in the Parliament.
Owing to this controversy, Twitter is now criticising the ends that are named after the two businessmen. As the ritual goes, for every controversy on Twitter, we have memes.
Here are some of the craziest ones. Here we go.
