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There was nothing unusual in the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke down at the Facebook Town Hall in San Jose. After all, this is not the first time that the country’s strongest political leader bared his emotional side to an audience that came to appraise him.

What was unusual this time was the fact that his emotional response occurred on foreign soil before an audience that did not belong to his ideological family. Those who have been watching Modi’s political journey will testify that the prime minister is never casual in his political demeanour, and not easily given to weak moments. Yet he found himself susceptible to a 'personal question' about his 90-year-old mother, and dropped his guard.

Why did he do it? Ask his opponents back home.
Are there elements of melodrama in this spectacle? Ask cynics who look at Modi’s actions from the prism of a pre-conceived notion.

The Congress has already dismissed it as 'drama'. But the fact of the matter, however, is that Modi’s moistened eyes are rarely if ever seen as a sign of vulnerability. On the contrary, his tender side, almost without exception, shines through from a position of strength.

Contrast Modi’s previous visit to United States of America with the ongoing tour that saw him meet a variety of top corporate honchos, IT czars and the top leadership of the world’s biggest economy. In his previous visit, there were clear instructions in the MEA — conveyed in unambiguous terms to US authorities — that Modi would be averse to any idea of patronising hospitality. He was on nine-day fast and had maintained body language that was distinctly stiff, if not outright cool at official functions.

There were reasons for Modi to be cautious, as he had been denied a US visa for over a decade on the allegations of his government’s (while he was Gujarat chief minister) complicity in anti-Muslim riots in the state.

Over the course of his nearly 18-month-long regime as prime minister, Modi has developed a personal chemistry with US President Barrack Obama and close connections with those who have been driving the world economy from the US. During his ongoing visit, Modi has seemed to be quite at ease whether in the corporate high-fliers, tech mandarins or media moguls. At the Facebook Town Hall, Modi chose to speak in Hindi to converse with the diverse audience, and was at his best talking about the relevance of social media when Mark Zuckerberg asked him a question about his mother.

Modi’s emotional outbursts always follow a pattern and come from the position of strength. And more often than not, after walking away with a victory — whether electoral, diplomatic, political or moral — this sees him walk away with his audience too.

Take for instance the days after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he broke down upon being described by BJP patriarch LK Advani as a leader who had done the BJP a “favour” by accepting its leadership in a meeting of BJP MPs in Parliament. Having gained the status of undisputed leader of the party, Modi broke down and emotionally contradicted Advani by describing the party as his “mother”.

Modi was conscious of the fact that he was consistently resisted by Advani before the elections, but his tears — while in no way stage-managed — came from his newly-acquired position of strength and he was able to effectively marginalised Advani at the function and win over the audience, without once having to resort to insults or brickbats against the party veteran.

Similarly, after his victory in 2007 Gujarat Assembly election, Modi publicly cried among his party workers at the BJP’s state party headquarters in Ahmedabad. Having won the election after a bitter contest in which he faced stiff opposition from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Modi reacted emotionally to the charge that he had become larger than the party.

In another instance, in 2003, when Modi (who had won the 2002 Gujarat Assembly election) attended an RSS conference, the general impression was that he would be pulled down or admonished. However, when he was asked about the Godhra riots that took place the previous year, Modi looked out into the audience and wept. The moved audience comprising RSS and VHP members also shed tears and praised the compassionate chief minister after the conference.

There is little doubt that the prime minister has his moments of vulnerability. But weakness? Certainly not, these moments come from a position of strength.

Islamabad: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an astute politician with the ability to outsmart rivals and he is aiming for the "political and military dominance of India", said a Pakistani daily that noted he was “received like a star” in the US.

An editorial in The Nation on Monday said that everyone loves a good old showdown between politicians - but in the case of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif versus his Indian counterpart Modi, "we have our backs to the wall".

"While Modi is received like a star is attending events and parties, PM Sharif only has the UN platform to make an impact. The odds are stacked against Pakistan," said the daily.

Both Nawaz and Modi are in New York for the Sustainable Development Summit hosted by UN SecretWhen it comes to Modi vs Sharif, we have our backs to the wall: Pakistan dailyary General Ban Ki-moon, where the new and ambitious post-2015 development agenda will be adopted.

"However, both parties have made it clear that there will be no bilateral meeting between them."

The daily said that Modi will not only speak to Silicon Valley’s biggest executives during his two-day visit to the US tech hub, but will also take questions from some of Facebook Inc’s 1.5 billion users at a Town Hall.

He is the first Indian leader to visit the US West Coast in more than 30 years. He also attended a dinner with 350 business leaders where Indian-born CEOs of Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Adobe Systems Inc moderated a panel.
He has also sought to encourage some Indians who have thrived around Silicon Valley to bring their knowledge back home.

"What is Nawaz Sharif doing?," the daily asked.
"Modi has been focused on connecting with the Indian diaspora in the US, while Nawaz Sharif was considering speaking to the US President in Urdu, to give our national ego a boost. It almost sounds like a joke. Increasingly, Pakistan has nothing to offer to the west, including personality and charisma," it added.
The editorial stressed that Pakistan must watch Modi’s “gait and gestures”.
“Modi is an astute politician, who has the ability to outsmart rivals with an amazing sense of timing. We on the other hand, are stuck with archaic, redundant policies of following the same deadbeat formula of ‘successes’,” it said.

Calling for a drastic improvement of the Pakistani image in the west, the daily said: “The US is helping India get armed to the hilt and soon we will lose our only advantage- our military strength. And that is Modi’s aim - the political and military dominance of India. He has a plan? Do we?”

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has rejected the bail application of AAP MLA Somnath Bharti in the domestic violence case filed against him by his wife Lipika.

 The former Delhi law minister had moved High Court after a city court had cancelled his bail plea earlier and issued an arrest warrant against him.

 Bharti's wife Lipika had filed a complaint of domestic violence with the Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to police in this regard. Meanwhile, Bharti's counsel have decided to move Supreme Court for seeking bail.

 Bharti's wife Lipika had filed a complaint of domestic violence with the Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to police in this regard. Meanwhile, Bharti's counsel have decided to move Supreme Court for seeking bail.

The Congress wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop airing his Mann Ki Baat address, until the Bihar Assembly election concludes on 8 November. In fact, the party wishes to flag this as a serious issue of violation of the model code of conduct, and is petitioning the Election Commission to issue necessary directions to the relevant authorities.

An RJD leader said that “it was the Congress’ decision to plead before the Commission for the stoppage of Mann Ki Baat. Although we are not, at least as of now, going to the EC as part of a delegation with them, as alliance Mahagathbandhan partners, we endorse whatever they are doing.” The other ally in this secularist grand coalition, the JD(U) is likely to join Congress leaders when they go meet the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on the issue on this hypothetical model code of conduct violation issue.

It's clear that the EC is unlikely to respond positively to the Congress’ wishes. The poll panel has on numerous occasions clarified that the model code of conduct does not restrict day-to-day functioning of the government or stop an ongoing program. It only prohibits the announcement of policies and promises that could influence the minds of voters in the poll-bound state.

As of now, Modi is expected to air the next edition of his Mann Ki Baat on Sunday (20 September), but there is no official confirmation regarding this so far.

By deciding to petition the EC on Mann Ki Baat, the Congress may have unwittingly acknowledged that Modi’s direct engagement with citizens over the radio has actually become popular, and thus has the potential to swing votes in his favour. It has also given an issue to the BJP with which to mount a counter-offensive against the Congress.

After all, Modi’s Mann Ki Baat — and the way it has progressed in the past year — is not about offering poll sops but engaging with people at large on issues that confront society. The purpose of the radio address is also talk to talk about people and issues that can be inspirational — whether that be the 'selfie with daughter', Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Jan Dhan Yojana, energy conservation and so on.

In the last edition of Mann Ki Baat (broadcast on 30 August), Modi did talk about a policy decision — not to re-promulgate the Land Acquisition ordinance, and to integrate 15 other categories of Central laws with the prevailing law on land acquisition. But that was hardly an issue that could have come under the domain of EC scrutiny even if the model code of conduct was in place. Moreover, the Congress had been quick to claim it as a victory of the party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and is planning to hold a victory rally in Delhi.

BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma called the move a case of “Khisyani billi khambha noche (A slow cat that can't catch mice, ends up scratching pillars). The Congress is desperate to find an issue, not realising that this will become a joke at its own expense.”

The point is that Modi or any other leader could always talk about the issues raised as part of Mann Ki Baat in public rallies while campaigning in Bihar. Mann Ki Baat, on the other hand, is not about an election, it’s about the nation and societal change.

During the parliamentary election held last year, the Congress had hurriedly petitioned the EC to prevent Modi from turning his nomination-filing in Banaras into a public campaign event, on a day when polling was in progress in some other parts of the country. The EC had then dismissed the Congress’ petition, and is likely to do the same this time.

Two days ago it looked like that the BJP leadership in Bihar had amicably settled seat sharing negotiations with three of its allies – Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP, Upendra Kushwaha of RLSP and Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM – but it is now proving to be a bit of a bumpy ride.

The alliance partners are now fighting over who would get what seats. This process is getting murkier as it is mired with ego clashes of the leaders who are constantly probing at other's share rather than looking at their own kitty. Also, both Paswan and Kushwaha are excessively keen, as sources suggested, that the BJP should distribute seats to their candidates in their areas, parliamentary constituencies represented by their party leaders, after consulting them.

LJP and RLSP chiefs have reservation over the names of a few candidates which BJP or HAM may field but the BJP does not find the condition acceptable. Upendra Kushwaha has fielded his spokesman Fajal Imam Mallik to give some lessons on coalition dharma to the BJP.

On Tuesday, Chirag Paswan of LJP expressed “surprise” and “shock” over the manner in which seat sharing arrangement was announced by the BJP chief Amit Shah – the announcement of seats were not exactly in consonance with the understanding they earlier had. BJP has for long, since the time Atal Bihari Vajpayee assumed power in 1997, credited itself for successfully formulating a coalition dharma and following it for six years at the Centre and in the states while being in Opposition.

Paswan is done sulking after several rounds of talks with Amit Shah, Ananth Kumar and Dharmendra Pradhan and giving vent to his feelings. Kushwaha, on the other hand, is still sulking. His spokesman Mallik says, “The BJP has not adhered to coalition dharma. The fact that we are the alliance partners for Bihar elections means that the BJP needs us as much as we need the BJP. Now, we have landed in a situation when even as the talks on identification of seats for alliance partners is going on they (BJP) have declared a number of seats for the first and second phase of elections. That’s not fair in a coalition.”

Today Kushwaha’s party MP Arun Kumar had talks with BJP election-in-charge for Bihar, Union Minister Ananth Kumar. But the issue has not yet been fully resolved. An RLSP leader said, “We have decided not to engage with Bihar BJP leaders. Whatever further negotiations have to happen between us and the BJP will have to take place with BJP’s central leadership only.”

The BJP on its part has decided not to walk extra mile to make a conciliatory remark. “We have been very fair in seat sharing talks and have tried to accommodate all of their concerns. We have addressed to all such issues. That’s it. Now is the time to move on and campaign vigorously and all concerned should understand that.”

The problem, as sources from both sides suggested, was the announcement of few seats in Kushwaha’s parliamentary constituency Karakat, including Nokha assembly seat to its leader Rameshwar Chaurasia. A RLSP leader said, “Our opposition is not to Chaurasia but the BJP, who has fielded some turncoats from JD(U) and other parties, in areas of our influence without bothering to consult us.

Interestingly, in the outgoing assembly none of the BJP’s partners had an MLA who was elected on same party’s ticket. The BJP had won 92 seats out of 101 seats it had contested in alliance with JD(U) in 2010 assembly elections. Paswan’s LJP had won three seats but soon after the elections they all joined Nitish Kumar’s bandwagon.

Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi were both part of JD(U). Kushwaha formed his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in 2013 and Manjhi formed his Hindustani Awam Morcha in 2014. Manjhi, however, had managed to engineer split in the JD(U) when he was forced to exit from the post of chief minister and used certain legal provisions to ensure 15 MLAs on his side don’t face disqualification.

NDA partners are proving to be the biggest aspirational class in Bihar.