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Kolkata: Fresh from the rains, on June 19 the city’s iconic Red Road is gleaming. The grand historic avenue almost mirrors the sky. This is because, in a rare sight for the city, it is completely empty of vehicles. Closed to all regular traffic to prepare it for celebrations of International Yoga Day on June 21, the usually busy road is now dressed in ceremonial infrastructure.

Long rows of guardrails run down both sides of the road, barricades at either end block the traffic and rain slides down the “Kolkata Police” signs. In the middle of the road, just opposite the Police Memorial, workers are busy building a 60 feet by 40 feet stage. Tall metal towers, fitted with giant TV screens and speakers, are being wrapped with plastic. A few white tents are scattered about. Just next to the stage, two bulldozers are on standby. A car is parked just inside what would otherwise have been an entrance to the blocked road. “On Duty PM Event,” says a sticker on its windshield. 

The Red Road Yoga Day venue on June 19. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.

Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to attended the celebrations on June 21 – to prepare for which the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government has shut down this arterial road for seven days.

Not only does the decision affect thousands of commuters who use the road to move around and in and out of the city everyday, it comes mere weeks after the government forced the traditional Eid prayers off the Red Road citing commuter inconvenience.

A cutout of Narendra Modi on Red Road, on June 19. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.

In a notification dated June 14, the day on which the road was blocked to traffic, Kolkata Police stated that the purpose of the shutdown was the “observance of the 12th International Day of Yoga at Red Road on 21.06.2026,” and that “commuters are requested to plan their........

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