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| Narendra Modi in UK: PM sounds 2019 poll bugle in London, tries to rationalise burden of expectations on him | | | Agencies
What is the secret of your stamina", a turbaned youth asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the mega Diaspora event in London on Wednesday.
"There are many ways of answering the question," said Modi. "Pichle kareeb kareeb 20 saal se main daily 1kg-2kg gaaliyan khaata hun" (For the last nearly 20 years, I have been on a diet of 1kg-2kg abuses daily), quipped the prime minister, leaving the audience in splits. It was a reminder that when it comes to connecting with the audience, very few politicians can hold a candle to him.
The programme, moderated by lyricist and censor board chief Prasoon Joshi, was held at Westminster's iconic Central Hall. Yet, the nearly thousand-strong non-resident Indians present at the venue were incidental. 'Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath' was in reality an impeccably organised election campaign streamed live from London for the domestic audience back home that brought out Modi the master communicator, as he took questions from the audience at the venue and from around the world sourced through social media.
There were enough headline-worthy quotes which will keep the media and the Opposition busy for a few weeks but at another level Modi was connecting with his electorate and laying bare his extraordinary ability to address different audiences at the same time. He has done this before at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 2014 and at the Wembley Stadium in London in 2015. Those were perhaps grander in scale and triumphant in tone.
This was a different Modi, mindful of the fact that four years have passed and he has only an year left before seeking a return mandate in 2019. His speech on Wednesday, therefore, was at once a detailed account of the job that he has done in these four years, the ground that he has covered and a subtle pitch for more time to help build the New India of his dreams. And yet these subliminal and explicit messages were delivered with a finesse which left the audience eating out of his hands, and at times he managed to turn even the criticisms against him into compliments in a veritable lesson in masterful oratory."In any home, parents love all their children equally but when there's a job to be done they give responsibility to the one who works hard and delivers, knowing that the job will get done, don't you agree?", Modi posed, adding "people have apeksha (expectation) because there is bharosa (faith). I am happy people expect more from us. They do so because they trust me to take India forward… They are no longer happy with incremental change."
He told the middle class that it is okay to be aspirational and impatient because aspiration brings desire for change and impatience seeks to implement that change quickly. |
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