Modi Cries. India Too Can Only Cry

Our Prime Minister cried in Parliament the other day. No, his face didn’t go into contortions of grief and the body did not shake with sobbing.

- TJS George

Our Prime Minister cried in Parliament the other day. No, his face didn’t go into contortions of grief and the body did not shake with sobbing. His was a dignified crying that could be managed with a quick flashing of the thumb under the eyeglass and a sip of water. The sight of a democratically elected leader succumbing to emotions of the ordinary kind must have attracted widespread sympathy from those who watched the scene on TV.

What made him cry? People must have thought that he was grieving over the death of more than 200 farmers who died in the course of their Long March protest. Or, they thought he was upset that responsible citizens like Sudha Bharadwaj and Stan Swamy were still in prison for no offence other than expressing opinions different from the Government’s.

But we learned in due course that our Prime Minister turned teary-eyed not for reasons lay citizens thought possible. He cried because Ghulam Nabi Azad was retiring from Parliament. This made no sense. retiring from Parliament is a routine. And Azad is not even a BJP man. Why should the country’s most important BJP leader cry when a Congressman leaves the rajya Sabha? Obviously, it is theatrics. But who is it meant to fool?