'Pawri of cronies': Sitaram Yechury hits out at Centre on PM Modi stadium

New Delhi, Feb 25: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday mocked the centre for renaming the Motera cricket stadium in Gujarat after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He used the popular "pawri ho rahi hai" viral trend on social media to hit out at the BJP-led government and said it's a "pawri" (party) of cronies.

Soon after President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the refurbished Sardar Patel cricket stadium, which will be known as "Narendra Modi Stadium", in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, social media was flooded with remarks including by some leaders of the Congress and other opposition parties who alleged that the renaming exercise amounted to an "insult" to Sardar Patel.

However, the government said the name change involves only the Motera stadium and the sports complex where it is located will continue to be named after Sardar Patel.

"Yeh Narendra Modi Stadium hai, yeh iske do Ends hain... aur yeh cronies ki pawri ho rahi hai (This is the Narendra Modi Stadium, these are its two ends... and a party of cronies is going on)," Yechury said in a tweet, sharing a picture which showed the names of two bowling ends of the stadium -- "Reliance" and "Adani".

"Pawri ho rahi hai" began trending began after a video of Pakistani Instagram influencer and content creator Dananeer Mobeen surfaced online and people on the Internet used to it to makes memes and send across messages.

Spread over 63 acres, the Narendra Modi Stadium is the world's largest cricket arena that can accommodate 1.32 lakh spectators. It has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore.