The surprise renaming of the revamped Motera cricket stadium in Gujarat after Prime Minister Narendra Modi today caused a flood of reactions on social media. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for renaming Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium as Narendra Modi Stadium. Rahul in a strong worded tweet, wrote, "Beautiful how the truth reveals itself. Narendra Modi stadium - Adani end - Reliance end With Jay Shah presiding. Apart from Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor too criticised the BJP over renaming the stadium.
"Maybe they (BJP) just realised the stadium was named for a Home Minister (Sardar Patel) who had banned their parent organisation (RSS)!," Shashi Tharoor tweeted. Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. This is now the world's largest cricket stadium having a seating capacity of 1.32 lakh, higher than the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground which can accommodate 90,000 people. The Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium is spread over 63 acres and has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore. The stadium has 11 pitches made of both red and black soil and is the only stadium in the world to have same soil surfaces for the main and practice pitches. The ground claims to have a drainage system which will take just 30 minutes from the time it stops raining to drain out the water. This is the only cricket stadium in the world to have four dressing rooms for the players so that back-to-back games can be played on the same day. It also has a cricket academy, indoor practice pitches, and two separate practice grounds with small pavilion area.