PM Modi BJP LEADERS involved in party work in Tamil Nadu were excited on Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that one thing he has been missing after years of public life is that he could not learn Tamil language. His “disclosure” comes at a time when the BJP is making extra attempts to shed its image of a north Indian party for Hindi-speaking people in the state. Attempts to connect with the Tamil language and culture is a significant part of its campaign strategy in Tamil Nadu, where it is fighting the assembly elections in alliance with ruling AIADMK. While party president J P Nadda during his last visit urged his state cadre to see that all party literature is made in Tamil, Union minister Rajnath Singh recently surprised his crowd with Tamil dialogues in his speech in Salem. In his Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, Modi not only expressed regret for not learning Tamil, he said he has been told by many about the depth and vivaciousness of its literature.
The Guide
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Minister S Jaishankar, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, on Sunday recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi — while speaking on languages in Mann Ki Baat — shared an interesting audio clip. A tour guide at Statue of Unity in Gujarat was talking about the tallest statue of Sardar Patel in the world – in Sanskrit. “Happy to know that there are over 15 Sanskrit guides in Kevadiya,” he said.
Fresh Faces
ON A day the leaders of the G 23, the group of leaders who are seeking reforms in the Congress, appeared on one stage in Jammu in what is being seen as a show of strength, the Congress made an interesting appointment. It made R S Bali, the son of veteran Himachal Pradesh Congress leader G S Bali, an AICC secretary. Bali is one of the prominent Brahmin faces of the Congress from Himachal and so is Anand Sharma, who is one of the prominent faces among the G 23 leaders. The party had earlier made another Brahmin leader Sudhir Sharma an AICC secretary. Sudhir is close to former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Many of the party leaders are now reading between the lines on the elevation of yet another Brahmin leader from Himachal Pradesh. They are wondering whether the party is creating a new Brahmin leadership in the state.