Narendra Modi crackers at stall in Patna City on Monday. Picture by Sachin

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only outsmarted his political rivals on the political turf, he appears to have forced them out of the cracker market as well.

Unlike yesteryears, crackers named after Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and Rabri Devi are no more in vogue. Modi is the in-thing. Crackers, bombs, sparklers and rockets named after him are selling like hotcakes this year.

The price of Modi crackers varies between Rs 200 and Rs 800. After the BJP’s resounding victory in the general election and more recently in the Haryana Assembly polls riding on Modi wave, bombs named after the Prime Minister are in high demand.

“This Diwali, crackers named after Nitish, Lalu and Rabri have disappeared from the market. But firecrackers named after Modi are doing excellent business. Only two types of crackers are available in the market this year. One set has faces of Bollywood celebrities and another of Modi,” said Munna Kumar, a cracker seller of Khajekala market.

Crackers named after celebrities like Kaitrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Roy Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan find space in the cracker market every year. But traders claimed that “Modi bombs” were far ahead in demand this year.

“None of the celebrities are as dynamic as Modi and that’s the reason the crackers named after him are in demand,” said Sukant Kumar, a cracker trader in Maccharhatta Bazaar.

A packet of Modi rockets in hand, Rajendra Nagar resident Manoj Prasad said: “Modi is my favourite politician. His picture suits on firecrackers like rocket and classic bomb. His personality goes with them and no other politician can match him.”

Abhay Kishore of Chowk area in Patna City said: “I used to purchase crackers having the pictures of Lalu and Nitish every year but I do not find charisma in them anymore. So, I preferred purchasing crackers named after Modi this time.”

Crackers named after Bollywood movies and their stars are also up for sale. Some sparklers, magic matchsticks and pop-ups have images of Katrina and Deepika embossed on them, while pictures of Salman, Akshay and John Abraham are printed on the packets of some bombs. But Modi is there everywhere — be it sparklers or deafening bombs.