Campaigner to statesman: Modi's speech of transition

There is little doubt that Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi gave a considerably mellow speech at the Central Hall in Parliament in comparison to the combative posture he adopted till recently in many political rallies. Missing were the verbal assaults on his political opponents — today’s speech was a clear indication of Modi the statesman and Modi the emotionally vulnerable individual. “Today’s speech was the transition of the campaigner Narendra Modi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When the occasion demands he will play the role of a pugilist. If required he will pull up his sleeves which he may have to do in future. Had he made a speech today like the ones he made during political rallies everyone would have lampooned him,” columnist Swapan Dasgupta told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion. [caption id=“attachment_1534609” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi gets emotional while addressing the BJP parliamentary party meeting at the Central Hall of Parliament in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI[/caption] But not everyone accepted the speech at face value and thought it to be melodramatic and missing some selective parts of history. Senior journalist Kumar Ketkar felt that the speech was good but probably incomplete. “Modi did not mention that it was the same hall where India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his first speech after Independence. This is the same hall of Independence for which Mahatma Gandhi struggled for so long. The speech was emotional and eloquent but there was no historical humility. He also did not talk about the architect of the Constitution BR Ambedkar who had framed the Constitution in this very hall,” Ketkar said. Dasgupta immediately disagreed with Ketkar’s views. “Modi did talk about the good and progressive work of all previous governments and assured the nation of carrying them forward. He did mention extensively about freedom struggle as well,” he said. Congress spokesperson CR Kesavan, who also participated in the discussion, did agree that governments carry the good work of earlier governments forward. “The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan was started by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the UPA government carried it forward. However, it is surprising that after such a vitriolic campaign how Modi lauded the previous governments,” said Kesavan. Despite some of his reservations, senior journalist Ketkar appreciated some parts of the speech: “He spoke about the poor for a long time. This seemed almost taken from the ‘Garibi Hatao’ campaign of Indira Gandhi in 1971. For once he did not talk about corporates which was appreciable. His concern for the poor was real and not theatre,” he said. BJP MP and spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi highlighted the emotional side of Modi’s persona and said they were not orchestrated: “The emotions were real. He showed that he is emotionally vulnerable despite being a combative politician. However, he is a very delivery oriented person. Modi has risen above petty politics as prime minister,” she said. The BJP spokesperson also said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi should have reached out to Modi. This difference in approach was aptly described by CNN-IBN national affairs editor Bhupendra Chaubey. “The two top individuals of Congress are not reaching out while Narendra Modi chose to speak today which he could have very well done on 26 May after the swearing in. He is clearly trying to reach out to all his alliance partners and even Neiphiu Rio of the Nagaland People’s Party was allowed to speak. This is probably for the first time an MP from Nagaland had spoken in this kind of an occasion,” Chaubey said.