Papad to pizza, Modi serves it all to women

The venue was the 29th session of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ladies’ Organisation. The convention hall was overflowing with mediapersons and women members. He was half an hour late. But no one complained. After all, eyes were kept peeled for Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, expected to give his “vision of India with special emphasis on women empowerment”. And, he did not disappoint. He spoke about gender equality and displayed an uncanny gender sensitivity. But he did it in his own way. He used the right-wing Hindu cultural idiom of the power of motherhood to argue the case for women power in the economy, in polity and in society. He traced the evil of female infanticide to 18th century India and said 21st century India had turned the clock back on itself. He hit the right notes and harped on what he did for women in Gujarat. He also used it to lampoon the Congress.Elaborating on women’s entrepreneurial talent, he gave the example of the pizzas of Jassu behn, a widow whose set-up was popular with the youth as well. After a pause, he said, “She is no Kalavati.” He was taking a potshot at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha in 2008 when he fumbled over a Maharashtrian villager, Kalavati. Modi followed it with another quip: “I know that the media will now rush to Jassu behn in Ahmedabad to find out if she is a real person... Let me tell you that she passed away five years ago, but her eatery is as popular as when she ran it.”But the former RSS prachaarak wasn’t always glib. He turned into a tiresome preacher sometimes with long-winded answers and lack of humour. @parsaJr