The end of vitriol: Shashi Tharoor touts Modi's 'generosity'

The high decibel Lok Sabha election campaign with plenty of bad blood and vitriol to spare, rife with ugly sparring of the Amit Shah-Azam Khan variety, has been followed by an odd and unexpected respite. Yesterday brought images of Rahul Gandhi paying his last respects to Gopinath Munde. Today, Huffington Post published an unexpectedly generous column by Shashi Tharoor on his party’s greatest nemesis, Narendra Modi. [caption id=“attachment_1555859” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tharoor is pleased with his former nemesis Modi: Firstpost[/caption] In the brief op-ed length piece, Tharoor speaks of an ’evolved’ Modi 2.0 and praises his ‘generosity’ and efforts to ’eschew triumphalism’ since taking oath as Prime Minister, calling it a ‘welcome surprise’ from “a man with a reputation of brooking no dissent and riding roughshod over opposition during his twelve years at the helm in Gujarat”. Praising Modi’s conciliatory gestures, his move to invite SAARC leaders for his inauguration and his willingness to get to work from day one, Tharoor says that the new improved Modi is a welcome development, writing, “For an opposition member of Parliament like myself, it would be churlish not to acknowledge Modi 2.0’s inclusive outreach and to welcome his more conciliatory statements and actions.” However, in conclusion, Tharoor sounds a note of caution, noting that it is still early days: “So does this all add up to a Modi 2.0, a very different figure in government from the ogre some of us had feared and demonised for years? It is still too early to tell, but the initial signs are encouraging.” Tharoor’s civility seems to part of a new phase in his once acrid relationship with the Prime Minister, who famously called his now deceased wife, Sunanda, a “Rs 50 crore girlfriend.” Tharoor’s Twitter reply was swift and cutting, “My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that.” That round may have gone to Tharoor, but his party eventually lost the entire war. It is a triumphant Modi, however, who held out the first olive branch in the afterglow of victory, tweeting out a congratulatory message to Tharoor, who had managed to retain his own seat in Thiruvananthapuram in the midst of an anti-UPA tsunami. And Tharoor is now reciprocating the gesture, and doing his bit to rebuild the political bridges ravaged by years of bitter rivalry. Beyond the specifics of the Modi-Tharoor history, the op-ed is can also be read as an erudite version of the views of the aam aadmi liberal who did not vote for Modi. The kinder, gentler PM Modi has elicited cautious approval but accompanied by a sneaking fear that this new found gentility may not last. In the midst of raucous adulation of Modi supporters, and predictions of apocalyptic doom from his critics, Tharoor’s essay offers a welcome reasoned and reasonable view of the new Prime Minister.