Blacking out the red

Irani went to the extent of saying that Modi was not elected to maintain a status quo but to take the country through change and that is what he is doing

Had Tulsi Virani, the protagonist in the extremely popular television serial Kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi…flashed her trademark bindi for the viewers in Afghanistan, hell would break loose. But the serial was much in demand and there was no way that television channels would give it a miss. In the Indian context the bindi, the vermillion dot on the centre of the forehead, is worn by married Hindu women. In modern India, it also makes a style statement.
 It was a Catch 22 situation:  the bindi an integral part of the protagonist’s persona but a symbol that goes against the cultural ethos of a predominantly Muslim country like  Afghanistan.  The only way around this complexity was to black out the red, as it were: the producers did, by simply putting a black box around the red bindi. That served the limited purpose of not hurting sensibilities and also not blocking out a serial that resonated with the audience abroad. That the person who dubbed Tulsi Virani’s lines went on to win an election in her part of the country found a parallel in the serial’s parent country, India: the protagonist Tulsi,  Smriti Irani in real life, , not only won elections back home but also rose to be a Union Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet.
The Afghanistan story was one that Irani narrated during an interactive session with film maker Karan Johar to a rapt audience at the India Economic Summit under the aegis of the World Economic Forum or WEF as it is popularly known.
The Afghanistan story was a one-off: a side story to main narrative where Irani underlined the need to the spirit of the north east by inculcating their stories; encouraging women writers and technicians and putting in a system in place where the best of the best takes centre-stage. The strength of the film industry is its ability to tap talent irrespective of its genesis she said as she spoke about the need to weave creativity with technology just like “physics and poetry” to quote her.

At an equally interesting session a day earlier, Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary, Shahidul Haque in the session on Asia’s New Normal along with Indian Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor among others well articulated his country’s stance on sovereignty versus economic growth.
Underlining the need for an optimum balance between the two, Haque said that economic issues often dictate and there is a toss up between how much sovereignty one can let go for economic growth: “a constant struggle between how much one allows citizens to enjoy economic freedom versus surrendering their political rights” is how Haque summarized the dilemma that nations, Bangladesh included, often face.

However he made it clear that his government will honour rather than go against the sentiment of “what the people of Bangladesh want and their desires being uppermost”. More importantly he spoke of Bangladesh’s need to “look beyond” South Asia and forge links with the rest of the world to open up different avenues and what he called a “different Bangladesh” from what the world sees as is today.
Haque’s take on “going beyond” found resonance among both the participants and the audience who seem to rally around the view that “connectivity” is the current currency.

The three-day summit opened in India’s political capital New Delhi to a power packed audience. In its thirtieth plus edition, this year’s theme focused on “Creating Indian Narratives on Global Challenges”.

The Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry or CII, hosted over several hundred participants from both public and private sectors as well as global thinkers and young leaders both from within and outside India.
If Philipp Rosler, who heads the Regional and Government Engagement at the Forum looked at challenges in India’s growth story, Viraj Mehta, India and South Asia Head and Executive Committee Member at WEF struck a chord when he reportedly said that it is time for India to be in control of its own narrative rather than others writing its “many narratives”.

The Indian government was represented among others by high powered ministers including Irani and Piyush Goyal and they two together deftly flagged schemes and initiatives by the Modi government. Irani went to the extent of saying that Modi was not elected to maintain a status quo but to take the country through change and that is what he is doing. Irani’s strength was that even while making a populist statement, she made it with conviction that got an immediate applause. Actually she touched a chord, unlike Karan Johar who desperately tried to but did not succeed. His tragedy was that he tried to play a journalist interviewing a minister but did not come through with the spark good journalists have. But then to be fair he is simply a film maker, unlike Irani who started off in the entertainment industry and graduated to governance.

Goyal also played on the Modi theme when he spoke about honesty being the catchword and the government’s intent of making India move from a cash economy to a cashless one and from bank accounts in every home to bank account for every individual in a household: “Killing cash is the focus”, the minister said.  He however mooted for persuasion versus compulsion and giving incentives and “encourage rather than force’ people to go digital.

At another level, Goyal deftly weaved in the issue of responsibilities of the privileged versus the rights of the other half who remain deprived simply because the rich evade taxes: “We all need to pitch in because if we don’t pay taxes there is someone out there who will suffer” Goyal said adding that it is the responsibility of the “haves” to  change the narrative. This sentiment, Goyal said, rather than economics should be the governing principle for India.

The federal perspective came in through the voice of one of India’s well known Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu when he underlined the need for the state and Centre to join hands to encourage public and private partnerships or PPPs to step up growth in agriculture and food processing sectors in India. Policies and investments are the key and governments must do both to stimulate growth in this sector. Food habits, Naidu said, were fast changing and from being a cereal nation, India’s people were switching to fruit, milk and livestock. His own state, Andhra Pradesh, that has an enviable coastline has the potential of being an aquaculture hub, he said adding that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would organize a global event on technologies later this year in his state.

There were many more sessions and interactions, hundreds of faces and voices, views and perspectives, points and counter points, convergence and deviation and much more. As with most summits, in terms of the people it brought together, the India Economic Summit was certainly a success. It was a three-day festival of ideas that apart from an intellectual repartee was also about bonhomie, bonding and camaraderie.

However whether the shift from hard or real economics to softer options like yoga, Ayurveda, spiritualism and religion was a happy deviation remains debatable. Equally, the issues that were flagged during the Summit were pointers to the need to Reform, Perform and Transform, to borrow from one of the session themes, but whether policy formulations would be sensitive to the people’s voices or whether they would be oblivious remains a big  if, as it were. It is pertinent to ponder whether summits such as this go beyond words and talking heads; take care of the red, as it were, or black it out like the protagonists bindi in Afghanistan?

The writer is a senior Indian journalist, political commentator and columnist of The Independent. She can be reached at: ([email protected]) 

Blacking out the red

Irani went to the extent of saying that Modi was not elected to maintain a status quo but to take the country through change and that is what he is doing

Had Tulsi Virani, the protagonist in the extremely popular television serial Kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thiflashed her trademark bindi for the viewers in Afghanistan, hell would break loose. But the serial was much in demand and there was no way that television channels would give it a miss. In the Indian context the bindi, the vermillion dot on the centre of the forehead, is worn by married Hindu women. In modern India, it also makes a style statement. It was a Catch 22 situation: the bindi an integral part of the protagonists persona but a symbol that goes against the cultural ethos of a predominantly Muslim country like Afghanistan. The only way around this complexity was to black out the red, as it were: the producers did, by simply putting a black box around the red bindi. That served the limited purpose of not hurting sensibilities and also not blocking out a serial that resonated with the audience abroad. That the person who dubbed Tulsi Viranis lines went on to win an election in her part of the country found a parallel in the serials parent country, India: the protagonist Tulsi, Smriti Irani in real life, , not only won elections back home but also rose to be a Union Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Cabinet. The Afghanistan story was one that Irani narrated during an interactive session with film maker Karan Johar to a rapt audience at the India Economic Summit under the aegis of the World Economic Forum or WEF as it is popularly known. The Afghanistan story was a one-off: a side story to main narrative where Irani underlined the need to the spirit of the north east by inculcating their stories; encouraging women writers and technicians and putting in a system in place where the best of the best takes centre-stage. The strength of the film industry is its ability to tap talent irrespective of its genesis she said as she spoke about the need to weave creativity with technology just like physics and poetry to quote her. At an equally interesting session a day earlier, Bangladeshs Foreign Secretary, Shahidul Haque in the session on Asias New Normal along with Indian Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor among others well articulated his countrys stance on sovereignty versus economic growth. Underlining the need for an optimum balance between the two, Haque said that economic issues often dictate and there is a toss up between how much sovereignty one can let go for economic growth: a constant struggle between how much one allows citizens to enjoy economic freedom versus surrendering their political rights is how Haque summarized the dilemma that nations, Bangladesh included, often face. However he made it clear that his government will honour rather than go against the sentiment of what the people of Bangladesh want and their desires being uppermost. More importantly he spoke of Bangladeshs need to look beyond South Asia and forge links with the rest of the world to open up different avenues and what he called a different Bangladesh from what the world sees as is today. Haques take on going beyond found resonance among both the participants and the audience who seem to rally around the view that connectivity is the current currency. The three-day summit opened in Indias political capital New Delhi to a power packed audience. In its thirtieth plus edition, this years theme focused on Creating Indian Narratives on Global Challenges. The Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry or CII, hosted over several hundred participants from both public and private sectors as well as global thinkers and young leaders both from within and outside India. If Philipp Rosler, who heads the Regional and Government Engagement at the Forum looked at challenges in Indias growth story, Viraj Mehta, India and South Asia Head and Executive Committee Member at WEF struck a chord when he reportedly said that it is time for India to be in control of its own narrative rather than others writing its many narratives. The Indian government was represented among others by high powered ministers including Irani and Piyush Goyal and they two together deftly flagged schemes and initiatives by the Modi government. Irani went to the extent of saying that Modi was not elected to maintain a status quo but to take the country through change and that is what he is doing. Iranis strength was that even while making a populist statement, she made it with conviction that got an immediate applause. Actually she touched a chord, unlike Karan Johar who desperately tried to but did not succeed. His tragedy was that he tried to play a journalist interviewing a minister but did not come through with the spark good journalists have. But then to be fair he is simply a film maker, unlike Irani who started off in the entertainment industry and graduated to governance. Goyal also played on the Modi theme when he spoke about honesty being the catchword and the governments intent of making India move from a cash economy to a cashless one and from bank accounts in every home to bank account for every individual in a household: Killing cash is the focus, the minister said. He however mooted for persuasion versus compulsion and giving incentives and encourage rather than force people to go digital. At another level, Goyal deftly weaved in the issue of responsibilities of the privileged versus the rights of the other half who remain deprived simply because the rich evade taxes: We all need to pitch in because if we dont pay taxes there is someone out there who will suffer Goyal said adding that it is the responsibility of the haves to change the narrative. This sentiment, Goyal said, rather than economics should be the governing principle for India. The federal perspective came in through the voice of one of Indias well known Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu when he underlined the need for the state and Centre to join hands to encourage public and private partnerships or PPPs to step up growth in agriculture and food processing sectors in India. Policies and investments are the key and governments must do both to stimulate growth in this sector. Food habits, Naidu said, were fast changing and from being a cereal nation, Indias people were switching to fruit, milk and livestock. His own state, Andhra Pradesh, that has an enviable coastline has the potential of being an aquaculture hub, he said adding that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would organize a global event on technologies later this year in his state. There were many more sessions and interactions, hundreds of faces and voices, views and perspectives, points and counter points, convergence and deviation and much more. As with most summits, in terms of the people it brought together, the India Economic Summit was certainly a success. It was a three-day festival of ideas that apart from an intellectual repartee was also about bonhomie, bonding and camaraderie. However whether the shift from hard or real economics to softer options like yoga, Ayurveda, spiritualism and religion was a happy deviation remains debatable. Equally, the issues that were flagged during the Summit were pointers to the need to Reform, Perform and Transform, to borrow from one of the session themes, but whether policy formulations would be sensitive to the peoples voices or whether they would be oblivious remains a big if, as it were. It is pertinent to ponder whether summits such as this go beyond words and talking heads; take care of the red, as it were, or black it out like the protagonists bindi in Afghanistan? The writer is a senior Indian journalist, political commentator and columnist of The Independent. She can be reached at: ([email protected])