An estimated 30,000–40,000 women from Ahmedabad are getting ready to watch the defending champions England vs New Zealand in the ODI World Cup 2023 opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.
The BJP is organizing women at the city ward level to fill the stands, and local officials are handing out tickets and ensuring free vouchers for tea and lunch.
The idea to attract women to the stadium was inspired by the adoption of the women’s reservation Bill in Parliament last month, according to Lalit Wadhawan, the BJP vice-president of the Bodakdev neighborhood.
Roughly 30,000 to 40,000 women from Ahmedabad will be in the stadium today to watch the game. “Tickets were distributed to them today, and our volunteers have been asked to send the names. Tickets were obtained from above (we acquired them from the top). See, even the 33% women’s reservation Bill has been passed,” Wadhwan told Indian Express. He added that these women will travel to the stadium on their own and will also receive coupons for tea and food.
Yamal Vyas, a spokesman for the Gujarat BJP, responded, when asked if the party had made a special effort to mobilize women for the inaugural match: “We have not made any attempt at the party level for anything like that. It’s okay if they (women) travel in big numbers. However, the party is not taking any extra steps in that direction.”
England vs New Zealand: Tickets not sold out?
A few days ago, the city’s mass mobilization process began when BJP ward members sent a WhatsApp message to their employees requesting them to list the names of ladies from their booth areas, societies, and apartments who were interested in attending the World Cup game. The message instructed the employees to email the designated local leader the names and mobile numbers of the women.
The largest cricket stadium in the world, which has a capacity of more than 1.3 lakh, is not sold out for the England vs New Zealand match, the two nations that competed in the dramatic ICC World Cup final four years ago.
According to a senior member of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), “Other places invite schoolchildren to watch the game because it fills the stadium and creates a festive mood. The only distinction is that there will be female spectators”.
When questioned about who purchased and availed these tickets, the official declined to respond.
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