(Written by Shri Tathagata Roy)
Yesterday what Narendra Modi did at Kolkata can very well be summarised by the cliche "Vini,Vidi,Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered). His oratory was unsurpassed; moreover he adopted a droll,easy style of speaking liberally laced with humour,reminiscent of Atal Bihari Vajpayee,instead of the power speaking he normally does. He floored the audience,won over the middle classes of Kolkata by his positive attitude,his mastery of facts and figures,his advocacy of the Gujarat model. I am sure a lot of people were mentally comparing him to the #BeehiveBuddhu - and there can really be no comparison. The success of his visit was more manifest from the fact that a bunch of his detractors - among them one @DEBKANCHAN - were frantically tweeting tales about why his statistics were not believable,how the joker Katju has reacted to him,etc. and finally,beating the tired old 2002 drum. In fact the exchange of tweets with these johnnies gave me an insight into how their minds work,which I shall deal with in another tweet. His speeches are available on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316c6KBZj6w and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316c6KBZj6w and you must all listen to the full speech (in the first one you can cut out the introductory lectures by others). They are inimitable, and I shall not try to summarise them or point out highlights. But,once you listen to them,you will understand that the spin the media was trying to put on his speech,that he was extending an olive branch to Mamata is simply not true. All he did was to commiserate with Mamata for her task in undoing all the damage that the Left had done over 34 years; and to concur in Mamata's statement (made by other non-Congress CMs also) that the Central UPA government was discriminating against non-UPA state governments. These do not constitute an 'olive branch'.
Yesterday what Narendra Modi did at Kolkata can very well be summarised by the cliche "Vini,Vidi,Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered). His oratory was unsurpassed; moreover he adopted a droll,easy style of speaking liberally laced with humour,reminiscent of Atal Bihari Vajpayee,instead of the power speaking he normally does. He floored the audience,won over the middle classes of Kolkata by his positive attitude,his mastery of facts and figures,his advocacy of the Gujarat model. I am sure a lot of people were mentally comparing him to the #BeehiveBuddhu - and there can really be no comparison. The success of his visit was more manifest from the fact that a bunch of his detractors - among them one @DEBKANCHAN - were frantically tweeting tales about why his statistics were not believable,how the joker Katju has reacted to him,etc. and finally,beating the tired old 2002 drum. In fact the exchange of tweets with these johnnies gave me an insight into how their minds work,which I shall deal with in another tweet. His speeches are available on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316c6KBZj6w and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316c6KBZj6w and you must all listen to the full speech (in the first one you can cut out the introductory lectures by others). They are inimitable, and I shall not try to summarise them or point out highlights. But,once you listen to them,you will understand that the spin the media was trying to put on his speech,that he was extending an olive branch to Mamata is simply not true. All he did was to commiserate with Mamata for her task in undoing all the damage that the Left had done over 34 years; and to concur in Mamata's statement (made by other non-Congress CMs also) that the Central UPA government was discriminating against non-UPA state governments. These do not constitute an 'olive branch'.
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