The world’s largest cricket stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad was renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium.
It was inaugurated on Wednesday by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In his address, the President of India said:
“India is called the powerhouse or hub of cricket. So it is apt that the world’s biggest stadium is in our country.”
Home Minister Amit Shah said that Ahmedabad will become the city with state-of-the-art sports infrastructure of international standards.
“Coupled with the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave and the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, a sports complex will also be built in Naranpura. These three will be equipped to host any international sports event.”
The old stadium, with 49,000 seating capacity, was known as the Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium.
This new stadium has a 130,000-seat arena and is spread in over 220 acres on the Sabarmati river bank.
This stadium includes the world’s largest cricket stadium, a football stadium, a field hockey, a tennis stadium, an indoor swimming pool, facilities for athletics and track and field sports, indoor sports halls and arenas, skating area, and outdoor fields.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the renaming the cricket stadium.
In his attack, he also highlighted that this change comes at a time when Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was the treasurer of the Indian cricket board BCCI.
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told PIB that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s name was never associated with the stadium in question.
“This stadium is owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and it was always known as the Motera Stadium. So there is no question of renaming it now. It was Narendra Modi, who had first floated the idea to demolish the old stadium and build a new one when he was the GCA president.”
This is the first such public structure in India to be named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
