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Priyanka arrives in hometown
to tumultuous welcome

It was true homecoming for Miss World Priyanka Chopra, who was accorded a tumultuous welcome to her hometown, Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday morning.

The organiser of the Bareilly visit, Pradeep Sharma, told rediff.com, "Huge crowds welcomed Priyanka all over and thankfully there were no demonstrations, as threatened."

Thanks to the intervention of Chief Minister Raj Nath Singh, the protest call by Hindu fundamentalist groups closely associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was withdrawn, allowing the beauty queen to go ahead with her programmes without hurdles.

The chief minister's recent ban on beauty contests had prompted local activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and their parent Hindu ideologue, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to declare their own protest plans against Priyanka's visit. However, the chief minister's last-minute call to the protestors to observe restraint kept them away, district magistrate Rama Raman said.

He said, "Miss World's five-hour visit went off very peacefully and the administration ensured adequate security." She was also able to go on her scheduled buggy ride, in full public view, even though it was for barely 500 metres.

According to Raman, "Priyanka landed in a chartered plane at the Air Force airstrip at 10.15 hours IST, where she was received by mayor Dr I S Tomar and the local Air Force commander. She was driven down to the army officers' mess, where there was a formal reception by the Army Wives Welfare Association."

He said, "This was followed by a civic reception at Bareilly Club and a brief visit to the residence of Divisional Commissioner A K Verma, before returning to the airport, to fly back to New Delhi."

Priyanka could not visit her residence near the railway station. "Her house is in a crowded locality and taking her motorcade there would have taken a lot of time," said Sharma.

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